Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 


TWO    COUNTRY    FOLK    FROM    THE    NEIGHBORHOOD    OF 
RAGUSA,    DALMATIA 


OLD  HOMES  OF  NEW 
AMERICANS 

The  Country  and  the  People  of  the 

Austro-Hungarian  Monarchy 

and  Their  Contribution 

to  the  New  World 

BY 
FRANCIS  E.  CLARK 

Author  of  "  The  Continent  oj  Opportunity,"  "A  New 

Way  round  an  Old  World,"  "Christian 

Endeavor  in  All  Lands"  etc.%  etc. 

WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  FROM 
PHOTOGRAPHS 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

(Cfce  0itoer£ifc  ptcstf  Cambridge 


COPYRIGHT,    1913,    BY   FRANCIS  E.   CLARK 
ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED 

Published  February  igjj 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

WHILE  much  of  this  book  is  the  result  of  personal 
observation  and  study  of  the  people  in  the  countries 
herein  described,  I  desire  to  render  especial  acknow- 
ledgments :  — 

To  Professor  Morfill's  "  Poland"  in  The  Story  of 
the  Nations  series  ;  to  Professor  Vambery's  u  Story  of 
Hungary"  in  the  same  series;  to  Count  Liitzow's 
History  of  Bohemia;  to  Miss  A.  M.  Birkbeck's 
Gleanings  from  Eastern  Europe ;  to  Our  Slavic 
Fellow  Citizens,  by  Professor  Emily  Greene  Balch  ; 
to  The  Whirlpool  of  Europe,  by  Archibald  R.  Col- 
quhoun  and  Ethel  Colquhoun ;  to  Dr.  Julius  de  Vargha, 
Director  of  Statistics  of  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary,  for 
his  illuminating  book  on  Hungary ;  to  Races  and  Im- 
migrants in  America,  by  Professor  John  R.  Com- 
mons ;  to  Aliens  or  Americans?  by  Dr.  Howard  B. 
Grose;  to  the  Reports  of  the  Commissioner-General 
of  Immigration  of  the  United  States  for  191 1  and  1912  ; 
to  President  Taft  and  to  former  President  Roosevelt 
and  others  for  letters  of  introduction  that  opened  to  me 
many  sources  of  information. 

F.  E.  C. 


273348 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION  —  WHY  THIS  BOOK  WAS  WRIT- 
TEN       xi 

I.  THE  AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN  MONARCHY  AS 
A  WHOLE  —  A  PRELIMINARY  STATE- 
MENT   i 

II.   THE    ROMANTIC    STORY    OF    BOHEMIA 

AND  MORAVIA 10 

III.  COUNTRY  LIFE  IN  BOHEMIA  AND  MO- 

RAVIA   49 

IV.  THE  PEOPLE  WITHOUT  A  COUNTRY       .     59 
V.    SOME  POLISH  WRITERS 81 

VI.   POLISH    COUNTRY    LIFE    IN    ANCIENT 

DAYS 87 

VII.   THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 95 

VIII.   OUR  RUTHENIAN  NEIGHBORS  AND  THEIR 

OLD  HOMES 100 

IX.   WHERE  SEA  AND  MOUNTAINS  MARRY.  113 

X.   HUNGARY,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  FREE  AND 

THE  BRAVE 127 

XI.   HUNGARY  —  THE  AMERICA  OF  THE  OLD 

WORLD 17° 

vii 


Contents 

XII.  THE  CROATS  IN  CROATIA  AND  IN  AMER- 
ICA   189 

XIII.  THE  SLOVENIANS  AND  THEIR  CONTRIBU- 

TION TO  AMERICA 206 

XIV.  OUR  NEIGHBORS  THE  SLOVAKS  AT  HOME  212 

XV.  ON  THE  EASTERNMOST  EDGE  OF  AUS- 
TRIA-HUNGARY—  THE  BUKOWINA  AND 
TRANSYLVANIA 221 

XVI.    THE    GREAT    CITIES    OF    THE    DUAL 

MONARCHY 231 

INDEX 263 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Two  COUNTRY  FOLK  FROM  THE  NEIGHBOR- 
HOOD OF  RAGUSA,  DALMATIA  .  .  Frontispiece 

HUNGARIAN  HOUSES  OF  PARLIAMENT    ...       2 

OLD  MARKET-PLACE,  PRAGUE 42 

Showing  the  Teyn  Church  (Hussite)  and  the  Old 
Town  Hall  with  Famous  Clock 

A  CROATIAN  COUPLE  IN  HOLIDAY  COSTUME  .     56 

CURZOLA,  CAPITAL  OF  THE  ISLAND  OF  CUR- 
ZOLA,  ON  THE  DALMATIAN  COAST  .  .  .114 

THE  ARENA  AT  POLA,  DALMATIA    .     .     .     .118 

ONE  OF  THE  LONG-HORNED  WHITE  OXEN  OF 
THE  ALFOLD  OF  HUNGARY 128 

HUNGARIAN  SHEPHERDS 128 

A  STREET  IN  DEBRECZEN 186 

KRONSTADT,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  TRANSYLVANIA  228 
THE  MARKET  SQUARE  OF  KRONSTADT  .     .     .228 

THE  CHARLES  BRIDGE,  PRAGUE,  WITH  THE 
HRADSCHIN,  OR  CITADEL,  CONTAINING  THE 
PALACES,  THE  CATHEDRAL,  ETC 242, 

KARLSTEIN,  OLD  CASTLE  NEAR  PRAGUE   .     .  242 

ix 


Illustrations 

THE  BASTION  OF    BUDAPEST  ON   THE    BUDA 
SIDE  OF  THE  DANUBE 248 

THE  FRANCIS  JOSEPH  BRIDGE,  BUDAPEST  .     .  248 
GRAND  CANAL,  TRIESTE 258 


INTRODUCTION 

WHY   THIS    BOOK   WAS    WRITTEN 

MY  object  in  this  book  is  to  set  before  the 
reader  the  characteristics  of  two  connected 
countries  that  compose  the  Austro-Hunga- 
rian  Monarchy,  from  which  a  great  stream 
of  emigrants  is  pouring  into  America  every 
year. 

I  have  long  been  impressed  with  the  crass 
ignorance  that  many  people  exhibit  concern- 
ing the  neighbors  who  jostle  them  on  every 
side.  Not  only  do  they  not  distinguish  be- 
tween Slavs  and  Magyars,  or  between  Bo- 
hemians and  Poles  (this  might  be  excusable, 
since  they  are  ruled  by  the  same  emperor, 
though  the  difference  is  fundamental),  but 
people  that  come  from  entirely  different 
points  of  the  European  compass  are  surpris- 
ingly mixed,  and  all  are  often  embraced 
under  the  one  contemptuous  title,  "  Dago." 
The  noble  history,  the  patriotic  struggles, 

xi 


Introduction 

the  famous  literature,  the  great  statesmen, 
poets,  and  artists  of  the  countries  from  which 
these  new  Americans  come  are  unknown 
or  forgotten,  and  the  organ-grinder  of  the 
Bowery  is  considered  the  typical  descendant 
of  the  ancient  Roman. 

The  magnificent  modern  cities  from  which 
some  of  these  emigrants  hail,  like  Budapest 
and  St.  Petersburg,  the  interesting  and  pic- 
turesque mediaeval  towns,  with  their  wealth 
of  history,  like  Cracow,  Lwow,  or  Czerno- 
witz,  the  comfortable  cottages  and  cultivated 
fields,  the  rugged  mountains  and  peaceful 
valleys  they  have  left  to  seek  larger  oppor- 
tunities in  America,  are  seldom  considered; 
and  we  are  too  apt  to  think  of  them  only  in 
the  squalid  East  Side  tenement,  or  in  the 
prairie  shack,  where  they  are  getting  their 
first  start  in  America. 

This  ignorance  would  not  so  much  mat- 
ter did  it  not  breed  not  only  indifference, 
but  often  downright  contempt,  brutality, 
and  class  hatred.  A  story  told  in  a  popular 
magazine  illustrates  this  hideous  unconcern. 
Speaking  of  a  great  railway  tunnel,  recently 

xii 


Why  this  Book  was  Written 

completed,  the  writer  reports  a  conversation 
he  had  with  an  assistant  contractor. 

"To  think,"  I  exclaimed,  "that  not  a  man  was 
killed!" 

"Who  told  you  that?"  asked  the  young  assistant. 

"Why,  it's  here  in  this  report  sent  to  the  news- 
papers by  your  press-agent.  He  makes  a  point  of 
it." 

The  young  assistant  smiled.  "Well,  yes,  I  guess 
that's  right,"  he  replied.  "There  wasn't  any  one 
killed  except  just  wops." 

"Except  what?" 

"Wops.  Don't  you  know  what  'wops'  are? 
Dagos,  niggers,  and  Hungarians  —  the  fellows  that 
did  the  work.  They  don't  know  anything,  and  they 
don't  count." 

We  need  not  imagine  that  there  is  every- 
where such  calloused  brutality  as  this,  but 
it  is  certain  that  there  is  abundant  indiffer- 
ence and  carelessness  concerning  our  fellow 
citizens,  which  must  be  replaced  by  sym- 
pathy and  active  interest  if  America  is  to 
become  the  great,  homogeneous  nation,  the 
land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave 
from  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  for  which 
we  all  hope  and  pray. 

This  sympathy  and  interest  can  be  awak- 
xiii 


Introduction 

ened  only  by  a  greater  knowledge  of  our 
new  neighbors,  of  their  old  homes,  of  the 
lands  they  call  "  Fatherland,"  of  the  history, 
characteristics,  and  present  condition  of  these 
countries.  As  a  contribution,  however  slight, 
to  this  knowledge,  this  book,  the  outcome 
of  thousands  of  miles  of  travel  in  the  lands 
of  which  it  treats,  and  of  much  reading  of 
ancient  history  and  present-day  literature, 
is  given  to  the  public. 

Never  did  a  country  have  such  problems 
of  immigration  to  face  as  ours.  Never  was 
the  fate  of  any  land  so  interwoven  with  the 
fate  of  other  lands,  and  with  the  men  and 
women  these  lands  send  to  our  shores. 

There  is  a  common  impression  in  many 
quarters  that  most  of  the  crimes  and  mis- 
demeanors for  which  America  is  held  up  to 
the  execration  of  the  world  by  foreign  critics 
are  committed  by  newly  arrived  immigrants 
from  the  slums  of  Europe.  A  political  writer 
has  recently  averred  that  "the  flood-gates 
of  Europe  are  opened  and  a  million  of  her 
criminals  and  paupers  are  every  year  dumped 
upon  our  shores."  Nothing  could  be  further 
xiv 


Why  this  Book  was  Written 

from  the  truth,  and  the  facts  quoted  a  little 
later  in  this  Introduction  from  the  latest  report 
of  the  Commissioner  of  Immigration  will 
show  how  baseless  these  charges  are. 

If  this  charge  of  lawlessness  and  crime 
can  be  laid  against  any  one  class  of  our  citi- 
zens, it  is  not  of  the  first  generation  of  for- 
eigners, by  any  means.  To  be  sure,  "  foreign 
names  are  common  on  the  blotters  of  our 
station-houses,"  says  District- Attorney  Whit- 
man, who  has  so  bravely  ferreted  out  the 
connection  of  the  criminals  with  the  police 
of  New  York  City,  "  but  a  large  proportion 
of  the  sins  which  will  be  found  charged  to 
them  are  due  not  to  malice  or  depravity,  but 
to  ignorance  of  our  laws.  The  push-cart 
peddler  who,  finding  his  trade  brisk,  lingers 
too  long  by  a  certain  curb,  is  not  necessarily 
criminal  at  heart,  although  he  may  be  haled 
before  a  magistrate  for  this  offense.  The 
washtub  or  the  flower-pot  or  the  mattress 
which  obstructs  a  fire-escape  is  not  usually 
an  evidence  of  desperately  criminal  intent 
upon  the  part  of  the  person  who  so  placed 
it.  The  man  who  violates  traffic  ordinances 
,  xv 


Introduction 

because  he  does  not  know  what  they  are  is 
not  a  candidate  for  Sing  Sing.  Thus,  in  figur- 
ing up  our  morals,  statistics  of  arrests  must 
be  utilized  with  utmost  care.  Even  statistics  of 
police-court  convictions  are  reasonably  sure 
to  be  misleading  as  a  standard  from  which 
to  judge  our  righteousness  or  sinfulness." 

I  have  striven  to  write  in  a  sympathetic 
but  not  eulogistic  mood  of  two  of  these  coun- 
tries. I  have  not  shut  my  eyes  to  their  de- 
fects, but  I  have  at  least  endeavored  not  to 
exaggerate  them.  Chiefly,  however,  my  effort 
has  been  neither  to  praise  nor  to  blame,  but 
to  describe  the  people  and  their  native  lands 
as  they  look  to  a  traveler  to-day  and  to  a 
student  of  their  history,  that  I  may  fulfill  my 
purpose  of  making  my  readers  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  old  homes  of  the  new  Amer- 
icans who  crowd  them  on  the  street  or  live 
around  the  next  corner.  The  country  with 
which  this  book  deals  is  the  most  complex 
in  Europe:  the  Empire  of  Austria-Hungary. 
From  this  dual  monarchy  come  Magyars, 
Germans,  Jews,  and  Slavs.  The  Slavs  alone 
are  divided  into  Bohemians  and  Moravians, 
xvi 


Why  this  Book  was  Written 

Croatians,  Slovaks,  Slovenians,  Serbs,  Poles, 
andRuthenians.  From  this  land  of  many  races 
and  many  languages  comes  an  ever-increas- 
ing host  of  emigrants,  —  enough  sometimes 
in  a  single  year  to  populate  a  city  larger  than 
Denver,  Colorado,  or  Indianapolis,  Indiana. 
The  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Im- 
migration gives  us  many  interesting  facts,  if 
we  can  but  pick  them  out  from  his  compli- 
cated statistics,  concerning  the  numbers  of 
these  different  races  who  seek  our  shores. 
The  very  latest  Census  Report  shows  us  that 
in  the  year  ending  June,  1912,  more  than 
85,000  immigrant  aliens  were  admitted  to 
the  United  States  from  Austria,  and  over 
93,000  from  Hungary,  a  total  of  178,882. 
In  191 1  the  arrivals  from  Austria  were  about 
the  same  in  number,  while  Hungary  sent 
some  15,000  fewer  people.  In  1910  a  grand 
total  of  over  260,000  people  reached  America 
from  the  Dual  Monarchy,  a  larger  number 
than  from  any  other  country  that  sends  its 
people  to  the  United  States,  though  in  the 
two  succeeding  years  Italy  outnumbered 
Austria-Hungary  in  the  number  of  its  emi- 
xvii 


Introduction 

grants.  These  solid  facts,  for  which  the  Com- 
missioner-General of  Immigration  vouches, 
are  enough  to  make  the  countries  from  which 
this  great  living  tide  flows  of  supreme  interest. 

We  find  also  that  in  the  year  ending  June, 
1912,  this  swelling  tide  of  new  Americans 
was  composed  of  nearly  27,000  Croatians 
and  Slovenians,  almost  exactly  the  same 
number  of  Magyars,  the  true  Hungarians 
(singularly  enough  a  difference  of  only  four, 
among  all  the  thousands,  and  this  difference 
in  favor  of  the  Magyars),  a  few  more  Slovaks, 
to  the  number  of  27,342,  more  than  91,000 
Poles  (probably  more  than  half  of  them 
from  the  Austro-Hungarian  Empire),  almost 
27,000  Ruthenians,  some  21,000  Germans, 
nearly  10,000  Bohemians  and  Moravians, 
while  about  4000  Dalmatians,  Bosnians,  and 
Herzegovinians  made  up  the  quota  from 
Austria-Hungary. 

The  year  from  which  these  statistics  were 
gathered  was  also  the  year  of  great  emigra- 
tion as  well  as  of  immigration.  More  than  half 
a  million  foreigners  returned  from  America 
to  their  old  homes.  Among  these  were  nearly 


XVlll 


Why  this  Book  was  Written 

26,000  Magyars,  leaving  a  net  Magyar  gain 
for  America  in  that  year  of  only  953.  The 
influence  of  these  returning  emigrants  can 
hardly  be  overestimated.  They  carry  back  to 
their  old  homes  new  ideas,  new  aspirations, 
new  methods  of  work,  new  ideals,  while 
doubtless  some  of  their  old  ideals  have  been 
shattered,  for  the  reflex  influence  of  America 
upon  the  old  homes  of  the  races  who  are 
seeking  her  shores  is  not  by  any  means  all 
good. 

When  we  consider  the  other  races  of 
Austria-Hungary  beside  the  Magyars,  we 
find  that  8000  more  Croatians  and  Slavonians 
came  to  America  than  went  back  to  their 
old  homes;  10,000  more  Slovaks,  and  nearly 
50,000  more  Poles.  Between  all  these  coun- 
tries and  America  the  shuttle  is  constantly 
flying  back  and  forth,  and  each  nation  acts 
and  reacts  upon  the  other,  for  good  or  ill. 

That  these  peoples  are  by  no  means  the 
least  desirable  of  our  immigrants  is  proved 
on  another  page  of  the  Commissioner's  Re- 
port, where  we  read  that  of  the  nearly  27,000 
Magyars  who  embarked  for  the  United  States 

xix 


Introduction 

in  the  year  ending  June,  1912,  only  225  were 
debarred  from  entering,  a  much  smaller  pro- 
portion than  of  the  Southern  Italians,  the 
Greeks,  the  Mexicans,  the  English,  or  the 
Irish.  Of  the  more  than  27,000  Slovaks  who 
attempted  to  enter  America,  only  249  were 
debarred;  and  of  the  nearly  27,000  Ruthen- 
ians,  only  391  were  not  allowed  to  land. 
When  we  consider  the  Bohemians  and  the 
Moravians,  the  showing  is  still  better;  for  of 
the  9087  who  sought  our  shores  in  the  twelve- 
month ending  with  June,  1912,  only  38  were 
sent  back  to  their  old  homes  for  any  of  the 
many  causes  which  prevent  an  immigrant 
from  landing  at  Ellis  Island. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  laws  are 
far  more  strictly  enforced  than  formerly,  and 
that  idiots  and  feeble-minded,  the  insane, 
epileptic,  tubercular,  and  those  with  conta- 
gious diseases,  vagrants,  paupers,  contract 
laborers,  assisted  aliens,  polygamists,  anarch- 
ists, and  many  other  classes  are  excluded  at 
Ellis  Island,  the  general  physical  and  moral 
health  of  these  people,  so  far  as  it  can  be 
learned  by  the  Bureau  of  Immigration  and 

XX 


Why  this  Book  was  Written 

Naturalization,  is  seen  to  be  of  a  compara- 
tively high  order  ;  and  few  come  with  a 
better  bill  of  health  than  those  who  hail  from 
Austria-Hungary. 

Yet  in  spite  of  the  vast  numbers  and  the 
high  average  of  the  peoples  who  come  from 
the  Dual  Monarchy,  there  is,  as  I  have  inti- 
mated, no  country  less  understood  or  about 
which  it  is  harder  to  get  accurate  and  reli- 
able information.  This  is  partly  due  to  the 
fact  of  its  complexity;  that  it  is  a  country 
made  up  of  many  countries.  If  I  can  in  any 
degree  unravel  this  tangle  for  my  fellow 
countrymen  who  read  this  book,  if  I  can  in 
any  measure  make  them  better  acquainted 
with  the  Magyars  and  the  Slavs,  more  appre- 
ciative of  their  national  genius  and  their  gen- 
erous qualities,  more  lenient  to  their  faults, 
more  glad  to  welcome  them  to  our  shores, 
my  object  in  writing  this  book  will  be 
accomplished. 

Finally,  let  me  commend  to  the  perusal 

of  every  American,  who  is  inclined  to  think 

or  speak  slightingly  of  the  men  from  many 

lands  who  seek  a  new  and  larger  oppor- 

xxi 


Introduction 

tunity    in    our    Republic,   the   verses    that 
follow. 

The  poem  by  Robert  Haven  Schauffler  I 
regard  as  one  of  the  noblest  ever  penned  by 
an  American.  Few  greater  appeals  for  the 
broadest  fellowship  and  sympathy  have  ever 
been  written.  It  should  be  memorized  in 
our  schools,  and  it  should  be  known  by 
every  lover  of  mankind,  as  well  as  by  every 
true  patriot. 

4 'SCUM   O'   THE  EARTH" 
I 

AT  the  gate  of  the  West  I  stand, 
On  the  isle  where  the  nations  throng. 
We  call  them  "  scum  o'  the  earth"  ; 

Stay,  are  we  doing  you  wrong, 
Young  fellow  from  Socrates'  land  ?  — 
You,  like  a  Hermes  so  lissome  and  strong 
Fresh  from  the  master  Praxiteles'  hand? 
So  you  're  of  Spartan  birth  ? 
Descended,  perhaps,  from  one  of  the  band  — 
Deathless  in  story  and  song  — 

Who  combed  their  long  hair  at  Thermopylae's  pass  ?  .  . . 
Ah,  I  forget  the  straits,  alas ! 
More  tragic  than  theirs,  more  compassion-worth, 
xxii 


Why  this  Book  was  Written 

That  have  doomed  you  to  march  in  our  "  immigrant 

class  " 
Where  you  're  nothing  but  "  scum  o'  the  earth/' 


II 

You  Pole  with  the  child  on  your  knee, 

What  dower  bring  you  to  the  land  of  the  free  ? 

Hark !  does  she  croon 

That  sad  little  tune 

That  Chopin  once  found  on  his  Polish  lea 

And  mounted  in  gold  for  you  and  for  me  ? 

Now  a  ragged  young  fiddler  answers 

In  wild  Czech  melody 

That  Dvorak  took  whole  from  the  dancers. 

And  the  heavy  faces  bloom 

In  the  wonderful  Slavic  way ; 

The  little,  dull  eyes,  the  brows  a-gloom, 

Suddenly  dawn  like  the  day. 

While,  watching  these  folk  and  their  mystery, 

I  forget  that  they  're  nothing  worth ; 

That  Bohemians,  Slovaks,  Croatians, 

And  men  of  all  Slavic  nations 

Are  "  polacks  "  —  and  "  scum  o'  the  earth." 

Ill 

Genoese  boy  of  the  level  brow, 
Lad  of  the  lustrous,  dreamy  eyes 
Astare  at  Manhattan's  pinnacles  now 
In  the  first,  sweet  shock  of  a  hushed  surprise ; 
Within  your  far-rapt  seer's  eyes 
xxiii 


Introduction 

I  catch  the  glow  of  the  wild  surmise 

That  played  on  the  Santa  Maria's  prow 

In  that  still  gray  dawn, 

Four  centuries  gone, 

When  a  world  from  the  wave  began  to  rise. 

Oh,  it 's  hard  to  foretell  what  high  emprise 

Is  the  goal  that  gleams 

When  Italy's  dreams 

Spread  wing  and  sweep  into  the  skies. 

Caesar  dreamed  him  a  world  ruled  well ; 

Dante  dreamed  Heaven  out  of  Hell ; 

Angelo  brought  us  there  to  dwell ; 

And  you,  are  you  of  a  different  birth  ?  — 

You  're  only  a  u  dago,"  —  and  "  scum  oj  the  earth 

IV 

Stay,  are  we  doing  you  wrong 
Calling  you  "  scum  o*  the  earth,"     • 
Man  of  the  sorrow-bowed  head, 
Of  the  features  tender  yet  strong,  — 
Man  of  the  eyes  full  of  wisdom  and  mystery 
Mingled  with  patience  and  dread  ? 
Have  not  I  known  you  in  history, 
Sorrow-bowed  head  ? 
Were  you  the  poet-king,  worth 
Treasures  of  Ophir  unpriced  ? 
Were  you  the  prophet,  perchance,  whose  art 
Foretold  how  the  rabble  would  mock 
That  shepherd  of  spirits,  erelong, 
Who  should  carry  the  lambs  on  his  heart 
And  tenderly  feed  his  flock  ? 
xxiv 


Why  this  Book  was  Written 

Man —  lift  that  sorrow-bowed  head. 
Lo  I  'tis  the  face  of  the  Christ ! 

The  vision  dies  at  its  birth. 

You  're  merely  a  butt  for  our  mirth. 

You  're  a  "  sheeny  "  —  and  therefore  despised 

And  rejected  as  "  scum  o'  the  earth." 


Countrymen,  bend  and  invoke 

Mercy  for  us  blasphemers, 

For  that  we  spat  on  these  marvelous  folk, 

Nations  of  darers  and  dreamers, 

Scions  of  singers  and  seers, 

Our  peers,  and  more  than  our  peers. 

Rabble  and  refuse,"  we  name  them 

And  "  scum  o'  the  earth,"  to  shame  them. 

Mercy  for  us  of  the  few,  young  years, 

Of  the  culture  so  callow  and  crude, 

Of  the  hands  so  grasping  and  rude, 

The  lips  so  ready  for  sneers 

At  the  sons  of  our  ancient  more-than-peers. 

Mercy  for  us  who  dare  despise 

Men  in  whose  loins  our  Homer  lies ; 

Mothers  of  men  who  shall  bring  to  us 

The  glory  of  Titian,  the  grandeur  of  Huss ; 

Children  in  whose  frail  arms  shall  rest 

Prophets  and  singers  and  saints  of  the  West. 

Newcomers  all  from  the  Eastern  seas, 
Help  us  incarnate  dreams  like  these. 

XXV 


Introduction 

Forget,  and  forgive,  that  we  did  you  wrong. 

Help  us  to  father  a  nation,  strong 

In  the  comradeship  of  an  equal  birth, 

In  the  wealth  of  the  richest  bloods  of  earth. 

V 

The  following  poem  by  Bishop  Mclntyre 
scores  a  common  American  fault,  and  should 
be  taken  to  heart  by  every  one  who  thought- 
lessly or  willfully  brands  and  belittles  one  of 
his  fellow  countrymen  with  one  of  the  oppro- 
brious names  which  is  so  often  upon  the  lips 
of  many :  — 

Dago  and  Sheeny  and  Chink, 

Greaser  and  Nigger  and  Jap. 
The  Devil  invented  these  terms,  I  think, 

To  hurl  at  each  hopeful  chap 
Who  comes  so  far  o'er  the  foam 

To  this  land  of  his  heart's  desire, 
To  rear  his  brood,  to  build  his  home, 

And  to  kindle  his  hearthstone  fire. 
While  the  eyes  with  joy  are  blurred, 

Lo !  we  make  the  strong  man  shrink 
And  stab  the  soul  with  the  hateful  word  — 

Dago,  and  Sheeny,  and  Chink. 

Dago  and  Sheeny  and  Chink, 
These  are  the  vipers  that  swarm 

Up  from  the  edge  of  Perdition's  brink 
To  hurt,  and  dishearten,  and  harm, 
xxvi 


Why  this  Book  was  Written 

O  shame !  when  their  Roman  forbears  walked 

Where  the  first  of  the  Caesars  trod. 
O  shame  !  when  their  Hebrew  fathers  talked 

With  Moses  and  he  with  God. 
These  swarthy  sons  of  Japhet  and  Shem 

Gave  the  goblet  of  Life's  sweet  drink 
To  the  thirsty  world,  which  now  gives  them 

Dago,  and  Sheeny,  and  Chink. 

Dago  and  Sheeny  and  Chink, 

Greaser  and  Nigger  and  Jap. 
From  none  of  them  doth  Jehovah  shrink, 

He  lifteth  them  all  to  His  lap ; 
And  the  Christ,  in  His  kingly  grace, 

When  their  sad,  low  sob  He  hears, 
Puts  His  tender  embrace  around  our  race 

As  He  kisses  away  its  tears, 
Saying,  « '  O  least  of  these,  I  link 

Thee  to  Me  for  whatever  may  hap  "  ; 
Dago  and  Sheeny  and  Chink, 

Greaser  and  Nigger  and  Jap. 


OLD  HOMES  OF  NEW 
AMERICANS 

I 

THE   AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN  MONARCHY  AS   A 
WHOLE  —  A   PRELIMINARY    STATEMENT 

The  Complicated  Relations  of  the  Hapsburg  Monarchy  — 
The  Many  Titles  of  Francis  Joseph  I  —The  Relation  of  Hun- 
gary to  Austria  —  The  Dual  Monarchy  largely  Slavic  and 
Magyar  —  The  Ost-Mark  of  the  Frankish  Empire  —  The 
Claim  of  Bohemia  —  The  Racial  Aspirations  of  Croatians, 
Poles,  Ruthenians,  and  Slavonians — The  Conservatism  of 
the  Hapsburg  Family — Its  View  of  the  Reformation  and  of 
Modern  Progress  —  The  Universities  and  Schools  of  Austria 
—  Why  Americans  should  be  interested  in  the  Races  of  Aus- 
tria-Hungary. 

IT  is  not  easy  for  the  uninitiated  to  under- 
stand the  complicated  relations  of  the  Haps- 
burg Dynasty  which  rules  over  the  destinies 
of  Austria-Hungary.  There  is  really  no 
Empire  of  Austria,  though  there  is  an  Aus- 
trian Emperor;  for  the  Austrian  nation  is 
made  up  of  many  provinces,  each  of  which 
has  a  distinct  history,  and  each  of  which  re- 
tains, to  a  certain  extent  at  least,  its  own  in- 

i 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

dividuality.  Thus  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  I 
is  the  King  of  Bohemia,  Galicia,  and  Dalma- 
tia;  the  Margrave  of  Moravia  and  Istria;  the 
Archduke  of  Upper  Austria  and  Lower 
Austria;  the  Duke  of  Salzburg,  Styria,  Car- 
inthia,  Carniola,  Silesia,  and  the  Bukowina; 
and  the  Prince  of  the  Tyrol.  Hungary,  as 
we  shall  see,  in  other  chapters,  is  not  a  part 
of  Austria,  nor  a  province  of  Austria-Hun- 
gary, but  a  distinct  and  separate  kingdom, 
in  many  matters  as  separate  from  Austria  as 
England  is  from  France,  but  recognizing  the 
authority  of  the  same  reigning  house. 

In  both  Austria  and  Hungary  the  heredi- 
tary ruler,  according  to  the  law  of  the  lands, 
must  come  from  the  Hapsburg-Lorraine 
Dynasty,  and  the  law  also  provides  that  the 
monarch  must  belong  to  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Church.  Thus  the  Emperor  of  Austria  is 
the  Apostolic  King  of  Hungary,  and,  to  speak 
correctly,  we  must  say  that  he  is  the  ruler 
of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Monarchy.  A  Hun- 
garian will  be  very  quick  to  tell  us,  if  we 
make  a  slip  in  these  particulars,  that  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  the  "Austro-Hungarian 


The  Austro-Hungarian  Monarchy 

Empire";  that  Hungary  is  not  a  part  of  any 
empire,  that  it  is  a  kingdom  by  itself;  and 
that  for  good  and  sufficient  reasons  it  is  united 
with  Austria  in  its  foreign  relations,  in  its 
military  and  naval  affairs  so  far  as  they  are 
connected  with  common  defense,  and  in 
finance  so  far  as  it  relates  to  affairs  that  the 
two  nations  have  in  common.  The  relation 
between  these  two  countries  is  not  nearly 
so  close  and  intimate  as  that  of  the  several 
states  of  our  Union;  and  at  any  time  when 
the  conditions  of  union  do  not  suit  the  Hun- 
garian people,  they  will  doubtless  feel  at 
liberty  to  sever  the  tenuous  bonds  which 
now  unite  them  to  Austria,  and  to  set  up  for 
themselves  in  all  internal  and  external  rela- 
tions. In  ordinary  speech  the  "Austrian 
Empire  "  or  the  "  Austro-Hungarian  Em- 
pire "  is  frequently  alluded  to,  but  it  will  be 
understood  that  if  one  speaks  with  the  utmost 
accuracy,  he  must  remember  the  vital  dis- 
tinctions here  recorded,  difficult  as  they  are 
for  a  foreigner  always  to  bear  in  mind. 

Since  1866,  when  Austria  cut  the  cables 
which  had  hitherto  bound  her  more  or  less 

3 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

to  western  Europe,  as  the  result  of  the  war 
in  which  she  was  so  ingloriously  defeated, 
she  has  looked  to  her  provinces  in  the  East 
and  to  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary  as  the  source 
of  her  strength  and  power.  Thus  it  happens 
that  though  the  ruling  family  is  of  German 
descent  and  many  of  the  nobles  and  high 
officials  confess  their  Teutonic  origin,  the 
monarchy  is  largely  composed  of  Slavic  and 
Magyar  peoples,  with  a  comparatively  small 
element  of  Germans. 

In  succeeding  chapters  we  shall  see  how 
the  kingdoms  and  the  provinces  which  make 
up  the  Austro-Hungarian  monarchy  have 
formed  the  outposts  of  Western  civilization. 
"Austria,"  it  is  said,  "  began  its  career  as  the 
Ost-Mark  of  the  Prankish  Empire.  It  was  an 
outpost  against  the  pagan  and  savage  hordes 
outside  the  pale  of  Teutonic  and  Catholic 
Europe.  As  a  duchy,  it  was  given  to  a  Teu- 
tonic family,  the  Babenbergs,  who  were  suc- 
ceeded by  the  Hapsburgs,  and  by  the  energy 
and  capability  of  the  latter  family  it  became 
the  centre  of  a  collection  of  hereditary  pos- 
sessions as  large  as  many  kingdoms." 

4 


The  Austro-Hungarian  Monarchy 

Though  the  different  Slavic  races  of  Aus- 
tria are  restive  under  Austrian  rule,  and  are 
yearning  for  complete  independence,  they 
have  not,  like  the  Magyars,  been  able  to 
obtain  it.  The  Bohemians  claim  to  belong 
to  a  separate  kingdom,  but  the  Emperor  has 
never  acknowledged  that  claim  or  been  will- 
ing to  be  crowned  at  Prague.  The  Croatians, 
the  Poles,  the  Ruthenians,  the  Slavonians, 
all  have  racial  aspirations  which,  if  they 
were  allowed  to  indulge  fully,  would  make 
of  them  separate  principalities  as  independ- 
ent as  Hungary  is  to-day.  But  while  Austria 
gives  them  many  privileges,  and  recognizes 
in  many  ways  their  racial  distinctions,  she 
has  not  yet  been  compelled  to  allow  them 
any  great  measure  of  independence,  though 
in  many  ways  she  is  a  less  harsh  stepmother 
than  Russia  or  Germany.  What  will  happen 
when  a  new  emperor  comes  to  the  throne, 
as  he  inevitably  must  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years,  no  one  is  wise  enough  to  predict. 

More  than  any  other  nation  in  Europe, 
with  the  exception  of  Russia,  the  Hapsburg 
family  has  been  able  to  maintain  a  conserva- 

5 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

live  and  reactionary  attitude.  Every  conces- 
sion to  the  spirit  of  modern  progress  has 
been  grudgingly  made;  every  recognition  of 
the  racial  integrity  of  the  provinces  has  been 
wrung  from  the  monarch  by  fear  of  worse 
things  that  might  happen  if  he  did  not  grant 
a  certain  measure  of  autonomy.  The  Re- 
formation was  an  abomination  to  the  Haps- 
burgs  of  old,  and  no  less  an  abomination  to 
the  venerable  ruler  who  occupies  the  throne 
to-day.  The  Jesuits  were  supreme  for  cen- 
turies in  Austrian  politics  and  social  life,  and 
their  influence  is  still  felt  in  every  reaction- 
ary edict.  The  aristocracy  of  the  Austrian 
capital  is,  as  might  be  expected  after  these 
centuries  of  conservatism,  proud  and  exclu- 
sive. The  best  thing  that  can  be  said  of  it  is 
that  the  millionaire  has  very  little  chance  to 
get  within  its  sacred  precincts  because  of 
his  gold.  Its  characteristics  are  not  luxuri- 
ousness  or  ostentation,  but  it  looks  down 
upon  trade  and  commerce,  and  its  intellect- 
ual life  has  been  stunted  by  exclusiveness 
and  remoteness  from  the  common  affairs  of 

life. 

6 


The  Austro-Hungarian  Monarchy 

The  universities  of  Austria  have  no  world- 
wide fame,  except  the  medical  faculty  of 
Vienna;  and  in  literary  and  artistic  lines  the 
Austrian  has  not  greatly  influenced  the  world. 
The  musicians,  to  be  sure,  who  have  made 
Austria  their  home  —  Haydn,  Mozart,  Bee- 
thoven, and  Schubert  —  are  world-renowned, 
though  we  are  told  that  "  Beethoven,  in  his 
lifetime,  was  little  appreciated  in  Vienna, 
and  the  poverty  to  which  he  was  left  in  the 
imperial  city  was  relieved  by  the  London 
Philharmonic  Society." 

In  many  parts  of  Austria  the  common 
schools  are  numerous,  and  the  elementary 
education  that  is  given  is  thorough,  so  far  as 
it  goes;  but  there  is  a  great  difference  in  the 
different  provinces,  and  the  Poles  have  long 
complained  of  the  poor  opportunities  offered 
their  children  to  obtain  a  decent  education. 
So  that,  taking  the  country  over,  we  read 
that  "at  the  beginning  of  this  century,  out 
of  twenty-six  millions  of  people  more  than  a 
third  could  neither  read  nor  write." 

In  considering  the  many  races  within  the 
boundaries  of  Austria,  the  Jews  are  always 

7 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

to  be  reckoned  with.  As  in  so  many  other 
countries,  they  are  here  the  bankers  and  the 
financiers.  The  Stock  Exchange,  both  at 
Vienna  and  at  Budapest,  is  said  to  be  entirely 
controlled  by  the  Jewish  element.  In  smaller 
places  the  Jews,  because  they  have  been 
crowded  out  of  many  professions  and  trades, 
have  become  the  money-lenders  and  the  usu- 
rers, the  saloon-keepers  and  the  pawnbrok- 
ers; and  gradually,  through  the  improvidence 
of  the  people,  especially  the  Slavs,  have  be- 
come the  landowners  and,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted, often  the  tyrants  and  the  Shylocks 
of  the  land.  It  can  easily  be  seen  how  racial 
animosities  have  thus  been  fostered,  and  how 
through  denial  of  rights  on  the  one  side,  and 
shrewd  and  often  unscrupulous  dealings  on 
the  other,  the  hatred  thus  engendered  has 
resulted  sometimes  in  massacres  and  whole- 
sale emigration  to  other  lands. 

It  is  not  within  the  province  of  this  book 
to  discuss  at  length  the  politics  of  the  na- 
tion, its  religious  life,  its  army  and  navy,  its 
finances,  or  its  foreign  relations;  since  my 
object  is  to  describe  the  people  as  I  have 

8 


The  Austro-Hungarian  Monarchy 

seen  them,  to  tell  something  of  their  history 
and  social  customs  as  related  to  their  present 
development,  especially  the  history  and  cus- 
toms of  the  classes  and  races  who  are  emi- 
grating to  America  by  the  hundred  thousand, 
and  who  will  form  an  element  in  the  Amer- 
ica of  the  coming  centuries.  For  this  reason 
I  need  say  little  about  the  German  Austrians, 
or  their  beautiful  capital  of  Vienna,  for  as 
compared  with  the  great  masses  of  Slavs 
and  Magyars  they  do  not  come  in  great 
numbers  to  our  shores,  and  those  that  do 
come  are  scarcely  distinguishable  from  other 
German  emigrants.  But  the  other  races  of 
Austria-Hungary,  speaking  a  dozen  lan- 
guages and  dialects,  who  look  to  Vienna  and 
Budapest  as  their  capitals,  are  of  supreme 
interest  and  importance  to  us  of  America,  as 
we  think  of  the  new  life-blood  which  is  con- 
stantly infused  into  our  veins  from  the  lands 
of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Monarchy. 


II 


THE    ROMANTIC    STORY    OF    BOHEMIA    AND 
MORAVIA 

Why  the  History  of  Bohemia  is  interesting,  especially  to 
Americans  —  One  Bohemian  in  Fifteen  lives  in  America  — 
The  "Incomparable  Moravian,"  Comenius  —  Characteristics 
of  Czechs  in  America  —  The  Prowess  of  Blind  King  John  — 
John  Huss,  the  Patriot  Reformer — His  Trial  and  Martyrdom 
—The  Sixth  of  July  —  John  Ziska,  the  Great  General  of  his 
Army  of  Farmers  —  Prokop  the  Great  and  his  Ironclad 
Wagons— The  Fatal  Battle  of  the  White  Mountain  — The 
Massacre  of  the  Twenty-seven  Nobles  —  The  Decline  of  Bo- 
hemian Liberty  —  Bohemia  under  Francis  Joseph  —  Why 
Bohemians  come  to  America. 

THE  map  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Mon- 
archy during  the  last  seven  hundred  years 
has  changed  its  shape  with  almost  every 
century,  and  frequently  many  times  in  a  cen- 
tury. Sometimes  this  map  has  taken  in  a 
large  part  of  Italy.  Sometimes  it  has  an- 
nexed Germany,  or  Germany  has  annexed 
the  Hapsburg  Empire  with  a  Hapsburg  Em- 
peror. At  one  time,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
a  Hapsburg  ruled  the  greater  part  of  Europe, 
except  Russia,  France,  and  England.  Not 
only  Germany  and  Austria,  but  Italy,  Sicily, 

10 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

Spain,  Holland,  and  Belgium  were  within 
the  boundaries  of  the  empire  of  Charles  the 
Fifth.  The  Hapsburg  Dynasty,  which  origin- 
ated in  a  certain  small  district  within  the 
present  borders  of  Switzerland,  gradually  by 
conquest  and  diplomacy  spread  eastward  and 
afterwards  westward.  Austria,  however,  has 
for  centuries  been  its  centre  and  most  be- 
loved home,  and  the  Hapsburgs,  whether 
losing  or  gaining  outlying  possessions,  have 
made  Vienna  their  capital,  and  ever  sought 
chiefly  the  glory  and  aggrandizement  of 
Austria.  Sometimes  Hungary  has  been  in- 
dependent, sometimes  in  alliance,  and  again, 
as  now,  part  of  the  Dual  Monarchy  as  an  in- 
dependent kingdom.  Bohemia  has  had  her 
periods  of  independence.  Poland  was  for  a 
few  years  the  dominant  power  of  Europe, 
and  free  from  Austrian  and  Prussian  control; 
but  Austria  has  always  been  true  to  the  Haps- 
burgs, the  oldest  and,  with  the  exception  of 
Russia,  the  most  conservative  and  reaction- 
ary dynasty  in  Europe. 

It  is  simply  with  the  present  Dual  Mon- 
archy, the   old   home   of   millions   of   new 


ii 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

Americans,  that  this  book  has  to  do.  To-day 
we  find  that  Austria-Hungary  embraces  two 
great  kingdoms :  Hungary,  a  comparatively 
compact,  homogeneous  country  in  the  centre, 
practically  independent  of  her  partner  in  all 
internal  affairs,  and  Austria  surrounding  her 
neighbor  Hungary  on  all  sides  but  the  south- 
east. The  Austrian  part  of  the  monarchy  is 
by  no  means  so  homogeneous.  Hungary  is 
the  kernel,  Austria  is  the  surrounding  shell; 
or,  if  this  comparison  seems  invidious  (it  is 
not  meant  in  this  sense,  but  only  as  a  de- 
scriptive simile),  let  us  say  that  the  Hun- 
garian centre  is  surrounded  on  almost  every 
side  by  the  Austrian  outposts  of  empire.  In 
these  outposts  are  peoples  of  many  races  and 
many  languages, — millions  of  Germans,  more 
millions  of  Slavs,  other  millions  of  Jews,  while 
the  Slavs  are  of  half  a  dozen  varieties,  speak- 
ing as  many  different  languages  or  dialects. 
Concerning  the  leading  section  of  these  races 
we  must  learn  something  of  their  history, 
their  home  life,  their  capabilities,  their  aspira- 
tions, in  order  to  understand  more  intimately 
and  sympathetically  our  new  fellow  citizens. 

12 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

There  is  no  better  place  to  begin  than  with 
the  northwest  corner  of  the  Dual  Empire, 
where  Bohemia  juts  out,  with  its  rounded 
contour,  into  Germany.  Bohemia  is  interest- 
ing to  every  reader,  because  of  its  thrilling 
history,  replete  with  deeds  of  patriotic  cour- 
age, and  because  of  its  sturdy,  industrious, 
progressive  people,  who,  against  terrific  odds, 
are  again  reviving  the  ancient  glories  of  their 
race. 

Bohemia  is  especially  interesting  to  the 
American  reader,  since  there  are  at  least  four 
hundred  thousand  men,  women,  and  children 
of  Bohemian  parentage  in  America,  of  whom 
more  than  one  half  were  born  on  Bohemian 
soil,  and  because  this  great  army  is  rein- 
forced by  an  average  of  more  than  ten  thou- 
sand new  recruits  every  year.  Think  of  a 
city  the  size  of  Milwaukee  or  of  New  Or- 
leans, where  every  man,  woman,  and  child 
was  of  Bohemian  birth,  and  we  can  realize 
the  contribution  which  this  noble  nation  has 
made  to  our  Republic.  One  Bohemian  out 
of  fifteen  in  all  the  world  lives  in  America 
to-day,  and  every  year  America  is  making 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

larger  inroads  on  the  population  of  Czech 
countries.  In  this  enumeration  I  count  the 
Moravians  with  the  Bohemians,  because 
they  speak  practically  the  same  language 
(all  are  Czechs),  because  their  history  is  in- 
terwoven one  with  another  from  the  earliest 
days,  and  because  they  are  not  distinguished 
in  the  Census  Reports  of  the  United  States. 
If  the  Bohemians  and  Moravians,  as  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States,  are  weighed  as 
well  as  numbered,  they  will  not  be  found 
wanting.  One  of  the  earliest  would-be  emi- 
grants to  America  was  the  noted  scholar  and 
religious  leader,  Comenius,  who,  next  to 
Zinzendorf,  is  held  in  highest  honor  by  the 
noble,  self-sacrificing  denomination  of  Christ- 
ians called  Moravians.  He  was  invited  to 
become  president  of  Harvard  College.  Of 
him  Cotton  Mather  writes  in  his  "Ecclesi- 
astical History  of  New  England":  "That 
brave  old  man  Johannes  Amos  Comenius, 
the  fame  of  whose  worth  has  been  trumpeted 
as  far  as  more  than  three  languages  could 
carry  it,  was  agreed  withal  by  our  Mr.  Win- 
throp  in  his  travels  through  the  Low  Coun- 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

tries  to  come  into  New  England  and  illum- 
inate this  college  and  country  in  the  quality 
of  President.  But  the  solicitation  of  the 
Swedish  ambassador  directing  him  another 
way,  that  Incomparable  Moravian  became 
not  an  American." 

Though  this  "  Incomparable  Moravian " 
did  not  become  an  American,  many  of  his 
fellow  countrymen  and  co-religionists  did 
come  as  early  as  1736.  They  were  driven  out 
of  Bohemia  by  the  savage  persecutions  that 
followed  the  Hussite  movement,  which  were 
more  prolonged,,  cruel,  and  bloodthirsty  than 
the  persecutions  that  drove  the  Huguenots 
from  France.  From  Bohemia  these  "Bre- 
thren "  took  refuge  in  Moravia,  where  they 
became  known  as  "Moravian  Brethren." 
Driven  from  Moravia  by  the  same  bloody 
persecution,  they  found  a  home  in  Saxony, 
under  Count  Zinzendorf's  patronage.  Some 
of  them  followed  the  Count  to  Georgia, 
where  he  had  a  grant  of  land  and  where 
John  Wesley  dedicated  their  church.  A  few 
years  later,  in  1741,  we  find  some  of  them 
settling  in  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania,  which 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

is  to-day  the  chief  centre  of  the  Moravian 
Brethren  of  the  United  States.  Here  is  the 
archive  house  of  the  denomination,  which 
contains  invaluable  records  of  these  early 
settlers,  who  would  risk  any  peril,  endure 
any  privation,  conquer  any  wilderness,  do 
anything,  indeed,  but  fight  their  neighbors. 
There  are  many  Moravian  churches  in  the 
United  States,  and  next  to  Bethlehem,  Win- 
ston-Salem,  in  North  Carolina,  is  the  chief 
centre  of  their  schools  and  publications.  No 
nobler  denomination  of  Christians  exists  in 
the  world  to-day.  Their  missionary  zeal  is 
proverbial.  They  seek  out  the  hardest  and 
most  forbidding  fields  for  their  labors,  where 
no  one  else  will  go :  the  fever-haunted 
jungles  of  Guiana,  the  inhospitable  shores 
of  Greenland,  the  leper  settlements  of  many 
coasts.  No  field  is  too  hopeless  for  these 
heroic  Christians,  who  have  added  their  sav- 
ing salt  to  the  great  unleavened  American 
lump. 

Not  until  1850,  however,  did  the  tide  of 
American  immigration  set  in  from  Bohemia, 
and  this  was  due  to  economic  causes  rather 

16 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

than  to  religious  persecution.  But  these  emi- 
grants have  largely  been  of  a  superior  class, 
intellectually  and  from  the  industrial  stand- 
point. Ninety-seven  per  cent  of  them  can 
read  and  write.  Of  late  years,  since  manu- 
factures have  been  encouraged  by  the  Bohe- 
mians at  home,  many  of  the  emigrants  are 
skilled  workmen,  though  in  the  early  days, 
when  they  went  chiefly  to  Wisconsin,  they 
were  largely  agriculturists.  In  some  towns  of 
that  state  they  still  form  a  very  large  minority 
of  the  population.  Chicago  numbers  a  hun- 
dred thousand  Bohemians  among  its  cosmo- 
politan peoples,  being  surpassed  in  the  whole 
world  as  a  Czech  city  only  by  Prague  and 
Pilsen.  A  certain  religious  isolation,  owing  to 
the  persecutions  and  repressions  in  the  home 
country,  is  characteristic  of  them  in  Amer- 
ica, and  unfortunately  Freethinkers'  societies 
have  obtained  a  strong  hold  on  the  Bohe- 
mian emigrants,  many  being  professed  infi- 
dels and  Socialists  of  the  ultra,  non-Christian 
sort. 

Dr.  Grose  in  his  valuable  book,  "  Aliens 
or  Americans,"  well  characterizes  the  Czechs 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

in  America:  "They are  a  home  people,  social 
and  fond  of  organizations  of  every  kind.  Mu- 
sic is  their  passion,  and  their  clubs,  mutual 
benefit  and  loan  associations,  successfully 
run,  show  large  capacity  for  management. 
Their  freethinking  is  not  all  of  it  by  any 
means  of  the  dogmatic  sort,  which  has  its 
catechism  of  atheism.  There  is  another  class 
represented  by  an  old  woman  with  a  broad 
brow,  over  which  the  silvery  hair  is  smoothly 
parted,  who  said  to  the  missionary:  <I  have 
my  God  in  my  heart.  I  shall  deal  with  him.  I 
do  not  want  any  priest  to  step  in  between  us."3 
The  intellectual  activity  of  the  Bohemians 
in  America  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  no 
less  than  seventy  Czech  papers  are  printed 
in  the  United  States,  and  that  the  revival  of 
the  beloved  language  has  developed  many 
distinctive  Bohemian  scholars  in  the  new 
world  as  well  as  in  the  old. 

Let  us  turn  from  the  Bohemians  in  Amer- 
ica to  the  Bohemians  at  home,  that  we  may 
know  the  fountain  from  which  this  great 
living  stream  flows  to  the  new  world.  The 

18 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

country  of  the  Czechs  is  about  the  size  of 
the  states  of  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont 
combined,  and  contains  nearly  ten  times  as 
many  people  as  those  two  states,  or  about  as 
many  as  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  —  some- 
thing over  six  million.  We  find  a  climate  not 
unlike  southern  New  England,  and  a  great 
variety  of  natural  scenery,  mountains  and 
smaller  hills,  charming  valleys,  sparkling 
brooks,  and  a  great  central  plain  where  the 
agricultural  wealth  of  the  country  lies,  while 
the  manufactures  and  minerals  are  largely 
among  the  mountainous  borders. 

A  romantic  and  heroic  history  is  the  proud 
heritage  of  every  Bohemian  and  Moravian. 
It  centres  largely  around  certain  great  names, 
like  the  blind  King  John;  John  Huss,  the 
reformer,  to  whom  Protestantism  owes  more 
than  to  any  man  save  Luther;  John  Ziska,  and 
Prokop.  As  the  history  of  the  United  States 
can  be  read  in  the  biographies  of  Washing- 
ton, Franklin,  Webster,  Lincoln,  and  Grant, 
so  the  story  of  the  Golden  Age  of  Bohemia 
is  written  in  the  lives  of  the  three  Johns,  and 
of  Prokop  the  Great. 

19 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

King  John,  the  first  of  the  nation's  heroes, 
comes  on  the  stage  in  the  early  part  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  He  was  by  no  means  a 
model,  either  as  father  or  king,  but  he  had 
the  redeeming  trait  of  courage,  which  en- 
deared him  to  his  people  and  has  caused  him 
to  live  in  song  and  story.  Ten  years  before 
his  death  he  became  totally  blind,  but  he  still 
continued  to  lead  his  people  in  battle,  and 
often  to  victory.  A  grim  humor  attaches  to 
the  story  that  during  the  siege  of  Cracow, 
the  Polish  King  Casimir  challenged  him  to 
single  combat,  agreeing  that  whoever  won, 
to  him  should  be  accorded  the  victory  for 
his  country  as  well.  King  John  replied  that 
he  would  accept  the  challenge  with  pleasure, 
but  on  one  condition,  —  that  King  Casimir 
should  allow  both  of  his  eyes  to  be  put  out, 
so  that  they  might  fight  on  equal  terms. 
Needless  to  say  the  siege  went  on. 

In  1346  was  fought  the  decisive  battle  of 
Crdcy,  reckoned  as  one  of  the  fifteen  most 
important  battles  in  the  world's  history. 
Edward  III,  King  of  England,  was  waging 
war  with  Philip,  King  of  France.  The  blind 

20 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

King  John  of  Bohemia  sided  with  his  old  ally 
of  France,  who  had  also  the  King  of  Ger- 
many for  an  ally.  The  battle  went  against 
the  French,  and  his  nobles  informed  King 
John  of  the  fact,  and  advised  him  to  follow 
the  example  of  his  allies  and  fly  with  them. 
"  So  will  it  God,"  answered  the  brave,  blind 
king ;  "  it  shall  not  be  said  that  a  king  of  Bohe- 
mia flies  from  the  battle-field."  Count  Liitzow 
tells  us  that  King  John  then  ordered  two  of 
his  bravest  knights  to  attach  their  horses  to 
his,  and  to  guide  him  to  where  the  Black 
Prince,  King  Edward's  son,  stood.  "He  then 
gave  the  watchword,  'Praha'  (Prague),  and 
the  knights  and  nobles,  following  close  be- 
hind their  king,  charged  in  the  direction  of  the 
French  army.  Passing  rapidly  through  the 
flying  Frenchmen,  they  penetrated,  wedged 
close  together,  into  the  thickest  of  the  Eng- 
lish ranks,  and  for  a  moment  nearly  reached 
the  spot  where  the  Black  Prince  stood;  but 
they  were  beaten  back  by  overwhelming 
numbers,  King  John  fell  from  his  horse,  mor- 
tally wounded,  and  fifty  of  the  chief  nobles 
soon  lay  dead  around  their  king.  Hardly  any 

21 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

of  the  Bohemians  survived,  and  the  flower 
of  the  Bohemian  nobility  perished  on  the 
battle-field  of  Crecy.  "  King  Edward  was  a 
generous  conqueror,  for  he  caused  the  blind 
king  to  be  brought  into  his  own  tent,  where 
he  died,  while  King  Edward  exclaimed,  with 
tears  on  his  bronzed  cheeks:  'The  crown 
of  chivalry  has  fallen  to-day;  never  was  any 
one  equal  to  this  King  of  Bohemia!'  King 
John's  last  words,  we  are  told,  for  genera- 
tions were  the  proud  watchwords  of  patriotic 
Bohemians." 

Brave  as  was  King  John,  there  was  another 
John  of  Bohemia  just  as  brave,  who  ex- 
erted a  far  greater  influence,  not  only  in  his 
own  country  but  throughout  the  world.  This 
was  John  Huss,  who  has  been  rightly  called, 
by  an  eminent  authority,  "the  most  promi- 
nent representative  of  the  Czecho-Slavic 
race  in  the  world's  history."  This  is  high 
praise,  but  it  is  not  extravagant  when  we 
remember  that  every  nation  in  Europe  was 
directly  influenced  by  the  doctrines,  the 
preaching,  the  life,  and,  more  than  all,  by 
the  death  of  Huss.  The  story  of  Bohemia 

22 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

cannot  be  told  if  John  Huss  is  left  out  of  it. 
For  hundreds  of  years  after  his  death  his 
name  was  the  patriotic  rallying-cry,  and  to- 
day, among  Catholics  and  Protestants  alike, 
his  memory  is  the  most  honored  of  all  the 
sons  of  Bohemia. 

The  visitor  to  the  beautiful  town  hall  of 
Prague  will  see  a  splendid  oil  painting  by 
Bohemia's  most  distinguished  artist  hung  on 
the  most  conspicuous  wall,  representing  Huss 
at  the  Council  of  Constance.  There  he  was 
tried,  condemned,  and  burned  at  the  stake, 
but  there,  too,  he  triumphed  gloriously.  The 
significance  of  this  portrait  is  greatly  en- 
hanced when  we  remember  that  the  Roman 
Catholic  rulers  of  a  Roman  Catholic  nation 
thus  honor  the  arch  heretic,  the  great  fore- 
runner of  Protestantism,  because  they  see  in 
him  their  nation's  greatest  patriot.  For  two 
hundred  years  after  the  death  of  Huss,  the 
ferment  of  the  new  and  liberal  ideas  in  church 
and  state  seethed  in  Bohemia,  until  at  the  battle 
of  White  Mountain  in  1620  the  enemies  of 
Huss  and  of  progress  triumphed,  and  Bohe- 
mia's long  era  of  serfdom  and  decay  set  in.  It 

23 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  though  defeated 
in  Bohemia,  the  principles  of  Huss  triumphed 
on  the  larger  battle-field  of  the  world.  His 
ideas  prevailed  in  Germany,  England,  Scan- 
dinavia, and  the  Netherlands.  They  were 
adopted  by  the  Puritans.  They  came  to 
America  with  the  Pilgrims  in  the  very 
year  that  they  met  their  final  overthrow  in 
Bohemia.  They  rule  the  religious  life  of  the 
dominant  nations  of  the  world  to-day. 

Were  we  indebted  to  Bohemia  for  nothing 
else  than  the  life  and  influence  of  John  Huss, 
the  debt  would  be  impossible  to  repay.  This 
great  world-hero  was  born  in  the  year  1374, 
of  humble  parents,  but  he  received  the  best 
education  which  his  time  and  country  could 
afford,  and  became  a  Master  of  Arts  of  the 
University  of  Prague  when  he  was  twenty- 
two.  At  the  age  of  twenty-eight  we  find  him 
dean  of  the  philosophical  faculty,  and  at 
twenty-nine  the  president  of  the  university. 
He  was  renowned  not  only  as  a  scholar  but 
as  an  orator,  and  peasants  and  scholars  alike 
acknowledged  the  spell  of  his  eloquent  lips. 
Nor  was  he  a  recluse  of  the  library,  dealing 

24 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

with  academic  themes  alone.  He  took  hold 
of  the  problems  of  the  day,  threw  himself 
into  the  thick  of  the  fight  against  popular 
abuses,  against  the  priestly  hierarchy,  and  in 
favor  of  the  common  people.  He  had  genu- 
ine and  grievous  evils  to  contend  against  in 
church  and  state.  He  fought  no  windmills, 
but  embodied  wrongs. 

In  1408  the  storm  broke  out.  The  Pope 
gave  orders  to  burn  the  books  of  Wyckliffe, 
"the  Morning  Star  of  the  Reformation," 
whose  doctrines  for  a  whole  decade  Huss 
had  been  preaching.  He  also  forbade  all 
preaching  except  in  parish  churches  and  con- 
vents, a  decree  that  was  meant  to  muzzle 
Huss,  since  he  was  accustomed  to  preach  in 
a  private  chapel.  From  this  moment  the 
issue  was  joined,  and  it  was  a  battle  of  Titans. 
On  the  one  side  were  the  authorities  of  the 
church,  intrenched  in  traditions  of  the  ages, 
fortified  by  enormous  ecclesiastical  patronage 
and  political  favor.  On  the  other  hand  was 
a  lone  scholar,  with  a  marvelously  persuasive 
voice  and  an  undaunted  heart,  supported, 
too,  by  the  love  and  loyalty  of  the  common 

25 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

people.  His  king,  Wenceslas  of  Bohemia, 
and  the  Queen  Sophia  were  also  his  friends, 
at  least  half-heartedly,  but  all  the  other  roy- 
alties of  Europe  were  against  him,  and  re- 
joiced in  his  overthrow.  It  was  practically 
one  man  and  the  people  of  Bohemia  against 
the  kings  and  popes  and  priests  and  people 
of  the  world. 

I  have  said  "popes"  advisedly,  for  there 
were  at  this  time  three  popes  recognized  by 
different  parts  of  the  Catholic  world,  though 
all  were  united  in  their  hatred  of  Huss.  The 
two  popes  of  greatest  power  and  pretension 
were  Pope  John  XXIII  and  Pope  Gregory, 
who  was  supported  by  the  King  of  Naples. 
Pope  John  tried  to  enlist  the  people  of 
Bohemia  against  the  King  of  Naples  and  in- 
cidentally against  his  rival,  Pope  Gregory,  by 
sending  envoys  to  Prague  to  sell  indulgences 
that  he  might  raise  money  for  his  campaign. 

The  Pope's  preachers  entered  Prague  in 
great  state,  with  drummers  going  before  them 
to  the  market-place.  Here  they  called  upon 
every  one  to  contribute  in  cash  or  goods, 
promising  in  return  immunity  from  hell  and 

26 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

a  shortened  term  in  purgatory.  This  was 
more  than  the  righteous  soul  of  Huss  could 
stand.  He  did  not  wish  to  take  sides  with 
either  pope,  but  he  declared  that  to  avoid 
hell  and  to  purchase  heaven  by  enabling 
Pope  John  to  kill  the  soldiers  of  the  King  of 
Naples,  who  were  bound  by  their  oaths  to 
support  their  king,  was  abominably  wicked. 

He  was  supported  by  another  fiery  orator, 
Jerome  of  Prague,  afterwards  a  fellow  martyr 
with  Huss,  and  together  they  carried  the 
hearts  and  consciences  of  the  common  people 
and  the  students  of  the  university,  though 
against  them  were  all  the  authorities,  secu- 
lar and  ecclesiastical,  except  the  vacillating 
king.  In  the  course  of  the  uproar  about  the 
indulgences,  three  young  men,  who  tried  to 
prevent  their  sale,  were  publicly  executed; 
whereupon  a  band  of  students  seized  their 
bodies,  and  singing,  "These  are  the  Saints!" 
triumphantly  carried  them  off  to  burial. 

Now  the  war  between  the  people  and  the 
authorities,  between  an  awakened  conscience 
and  the  buttressed  traditions,  waxed  hot  and 
bitter.  The  Pope  excommunicated  Huss. 

27 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

Every  one  who  might  give  him  a  cup  of  cold 
water  or  a  crust  of  bread  was  also  excom- 
municated. If  he  entered  another  town,  the 
ban  was  on  that  town.  No  religious  services 
could  be  held  in  it,  the  dead  could  not  be 
buried,  children  could  not  be  baptized,  lovers 
could  not  be  married.  At  the  earnest  request 
of  the  King,  and  to  avoid  further  bloodshed, 
Huss  left  Prague  for  a  little  time  and  lived 
in  the  castle  of  one  of  his  friends,  as  after- 
wards under  similar  circumstances  Luther 
retired  to  the  Castle  of  Wartburg.  Huss,  too, 
like  Luther  in  later  years,  improved  this  time 
of  exile  to  launch  many  of  his  thunderbolts 
against  the  evils  of  the  day,  both  in  Latin  and 
in  Bohemian,  so  that  the  Pope's  bull  and  the 
exile  of  Huss  harmed  rather  than  helped  the 
cause  of  Pope  John. 

King  Sigismund  of  Hungary  now  comes 
upon  the  scene.  He  persuaded  the  Pope  to 
call  a  general  council  of  the  church  at  beauti- 
ful Constance  in  Switzerland.  At  the  same 
time  he  summoned  Huss  to  appear  at  Con- 
stance, and  persuaded  his  brother  Wenceslas, 
King  of  Bohemia,  that  this  would  be  the 

28 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

best  solution  of  the  trouble  for  all  parties. 
Moreover,  he  assured  Huss  of  a  safe-conduct 
to  Constance,  free  discussion  there,  and  safe 
return,  even  if  he  did  not  submit  to  the  de- 
cision of  the  Council.  Volumes  have  been 
written  on  the  meaning  of  this  safe-conduct, 
both  for  and  against  King  Sigismund.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  was  a  mere  scrap  of  worth- 
less paper,  for  Huss  was  imprisoned  as  soon 
as  he  reached  Constance,  and  was  set  free 
only  by  the  flames  which  soon  enveloped 
his  body  and  liberated  his  soul. 

However,  Huss  was  permitted  to  appear 
before  the  Council  on  the  5th,  7th,  and  8th  of 
June,  1415,  but  he  was  never  allowed  freely 
to  state  his  case,  and  all  sorts  of  absurd  and  evil 
stories  were  set  on  foot  to  prejudice  the  people 
against  him  and  to  justify  his  fate,  which  had 
been  prejudged.  One  of  these  wicked  libels 
was  that  Huss  had  declared  that  there  were 
four  persons  in  the  Godhead:  The  Father, 
The  Son,  The  Holy  Ghost,  and  John  Huss. 

A  month  was  allowed  to  elapse,  and  again 
he  was  brought  before  the  Council,  on  July 
6.  But  he  would  not  recant.  It  was  his  last 

29 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

chance.  His  condemnation  was  foreordained. 
It  was  that  he  should  suffer  the  most  cruel 
of  deaths.  He  was  led  from  the  council 
chamber  of  the  cathedral  to  a  green  meadow, 
half  a  mile  from  the  city,  and  there  the  flames 
that  mounted  to  heaven  proclaimed  the  lib- 
eration of  Huss  from  his  enemies,  who  at 
the  same  time  lighted  the  torch  of  Liberty 
of  Conscience  which  has  never  been  extin- 
guished. His  loud  prayers  could  be  heard 
while  the  flames  leaped  around  him,  but  the 
dense  smoke  driven  into  his  face  by  a  merci- 
ful wind  soon  ended  his  sufferings  by  suffo- 
cation. In  their  impotent  rage  his  enemies 
carefully  gathered  up  his  ashes  and  threw 
them  into  the  Rhine,  to  prevent  his  country- 
men from  treasuring  them.  This  act  was  an 
unconscious  prophecy.  Though  Bohemia 
could  not  preserve  his  remains,  and,  after  a 
struggle  of  two  hundred  years,  lost  the  faith 
for  which  Huss  stood,  the  Rhine  carried  his 
ashes  through  Switzerland,  Germany,  and 
Holland;  and  all  of  these  countries  afterwards 
adopted  his  beliefs  and  became  the  bulwarks 
of  his  teachings. 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

Jerome  of  Prague  is  another  name  to  con- 
jure by  in  Bohemia,  though  his  influence  was 
and  is  by  no  means  comparable  to  that  of  John 
Huss.  His  eloquence  was  even  more  fiery 
and  persuasive  than  that  of  his  older  friend, 
but  he  lived  much  of  the  time  away  from 
Bohemia,  and  was  not  so  thoroughly  identi- 
fied with  her  interests.  He  visited  Huss  at 
Constance,  and  for  that  imprudent  interview 
was  imprisoned,  and  in  less  than  a  year 
suffered  the  same  fate  as  Huss.  He  met  it  so 
bravely  that  even  an  Italian  priest,  a  legate  of 
the  Pope,  was  obliged  to  say  of  him:  "None 
of  the  Stoics  with  so  constant  and  brave  a 
soul  endured  death,  which  he  rather  seemed 
to  long  for." 

The  news  of  the  burning  of  Huss  created 
a  tremendous  sensation  and  nation-wide  grief 
in  Bohemia,  as  can  well  be  imagined,  for  the 
vast  majority  of  the  people  were  his  devoted 
friends  and  disciples.  The  reaction  against 
the  priests  knew  no  bounds.  Every  priest 
in  Prague  who  had  opposed  Huss  was  ex- 
pelled, and  ministers  of  the  Reformed  re- 
ligion were  appointed  in  their  place.  Huss 

31 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

was  proclaimed  a  holy  martyr  by  the  Uni- 
versity of  which  he  had  been  the  Rector, 
and  the  6th  of  July  was  made  a  holy  day  to 
commemorate  his  death  and  perpetuate  his 
memory.  For  nearly  two  hundred  years  it 
was  kept  as  a  holiday,  and  as  late  as  1592, 
we  are  told,  a  Roman  Catholic  abbot  at 
Prague  "was  attacked  by  the  people,  and 
threatened  with  death,  because  he  had  let 
some  of  his  laborers  work  in  his  vineyards 
on  the  6th  of  July." 

Another  John  was  the  successor  of  John 
Huss  as  the  popular  leader  and  hero  of  the 
Bohemians.  John  Ziskawas  a  warrior  rather 
than  a  scholar,  orator,  and  prophet.  But  as 
a  military  leader  he  was  as  great  as  Huss 
had  been  as  a  theologian  and  statesman.  He 
has  been  compared  by  more  than  one  author 
to  Oliver  Cromwell.  He  had,  indeed,  not  a 
little  of  the  great  Puritan's  simplicity  and 
courage,  and  even  more  than  Cromwell's 
military  sagacity.  Think  of  the  material  that 
John  Ziska  had  out  of  which  to  forge  an 
army  that  should  successfully  defy  the  united 
armies  of  Europe.  Peasants,  small  landown- 

32 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

ers,  shopkeepers,  priests  who  had  renounced 
the  Pope,  —  these  were  the  men  who  rallied 
around  his  banner  and  composed  his  invin- 
cible army  that  never  knew  defeat.  What 
were  their  arms?  At  first  only  flails  shod 
with  iron,  or  short  spears,  while  their  oppo- 
nents knew  the  use  of  gunpowder,  and  had 
the  best  arms  and  coats  of  mail  that  Europe 
could  supply.  Ziska  invented  a  unique  sys- 
tem of  warfare,  and  maybe  called  the  father 
of  the  modern  ironclad;  but  his  ironclads 
ploughed  not  the  seas,  but  the  Bohemian 
plains.  Indeed,  it  was  an  early  adaptation  of 
the  modern  mailclad  ship  to  the  prairie 
schooner  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  wagons 
of  the  Bohemian  farmers  were  linked  to- 
gether by  strong  chains,  and  were  plated 
with  steel  or  iron.  In  these  wagons  were  the 
warriors,  and  in  time  of  battle  the  women 
and  children  took  shelter  in  them.  They 
formed  a  kind  of  movable  fort  or  series  of 
forts.  Ziska  also  soon  developed  a  body  of 
sharpshooters  with  the  best  guns  procurable, 
and  stationed  them  next  to  the  horses  to  pick 
off  the  oncoming  enemy.  His  cannon,  too, 

33 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

though  we  should  consider  them  clumsy 
and  ineffective,  soon  proved  that  they  were 
aimed  with  more  skill  than  those  of  the 
enemy. 

The  stories  of  these  old  battles  read  like 
romances.  In  one  of  the  earliest  of  them 
Ziska's  forces  were  surprised  by  the  enemy, 
and  he  had  barely  time  to  back  his  ironclad 
wagons  against  a  small  hill,  while  they  were 
secured  from  attack  on  another  side  by  a 
fish-pond.  The  enemy  came  on  with  ten 
times  the  number  of  Ziska's  troops,  but  were 
obliged  to  dismount  from  their  horses.  The 
women  spread  their  long  veils  across  the 
only  road  by  which  the  enemy  could  march, 
and  these  veils  became  entangled  in  the 
spurs  of  their  opponents.  Then  they  retired 
to  their  wagons,  while  Ziska's  sharpshooters 
decimated  the  Catholic  troops,  who  were 
finally  routed  with  great  slaughter. 

Over  and  over  again  crusades  were  planned 
by  the  neighboring  nations  against  the  Huss- 
ites. Many  electors  of  Germany,  Hungari- 
ans and  Poles  united  their  forces,  but  could 
never  prevail.  The  mailclad  chariots,  the 

34 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

brave  warriors,  and  above  all  the  military 
genius  of  Europe's  greatest  general,  John 
Ziska,  beat  back  no  less  than  five  of  these 
formidable  crusades.  In  one  battle  fully 
twelve  thousand  Hungarians,  led  by  King 
Sigismund  himself,  were  slain,  and  the  whole 
army  was  routed. 

Unfortunately,  dissensions  broke  out  in  the 
Reformed  party  itself.  They  were  divided 
into  two  hostile  ranks,  the  Conservative  Pro- 
testants and  the  Radicals.  The  latter  de- 
stroyed churches,  works  of  art,  libraries,  and 
treasures  of  all  sorts,  which  they  deemed  an 
abomination.  The  Conservatives  resented 
this,  and  sometimes  were  driven  to  fight 
their  co-religionists.  Thus  at  times  John 
Ziska  was  waging  a  civil  war;  but  when  for- 
eign invaders  attacked  Bohemia  these  moder- 
ates and  radicals  all  united  under  their  great 
leader,  and  when  thus  united  were  never  de- 
feated. How  different  would  the  fate  of  Bo- 
hemia have  been  had  the  people  united  their 
forces  in  later  centuries,  and  found  other 
great  generals  to  lead  them  on  to  victory. 
She  would  to-day,  doubtless,  be  a  leading, 

35 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

independent,  Protestant  power  of  Europe, 
instead  of  being  for  centuries  the  football  of 
misfortune,  and  in  this  twentieth  century  tied 
hand  and  foot  to  the  most  reactionary  Catho- 
lic power  in  Europe. 

John  Ziska,  who  was  of  about  the  same 
age  as  John  Huss,  survived  him  by  nearly 
ten  years,  and  died  of  the  plague  near  the 
Moravian  frontier,  whither  he  was  marching 
at  the  head  of  his  victorious  army.  During 
the  last  years  of  his  life,  while  winning  some 
of  his  most  important  victories,  he,  like  King 
John,  was  totally  blind,  his  eyes  being  pierced 
by  an  arrow  in  one  of  his  early  battles. 

Catholic  authorities  assert  that  Ziska  died 
blaspheming,  and  ordered  that  his  body 
should  be  flayed,  his  skin  used  as  a  drum, 
and  the  carcass  thrown  to  the  wild  beasts. 
The  Protestant  writers,  quoting  a  contem- 
porary and  probable  eye-witness,  state  that 
"he  gave  his  last  charge  to  his  faithful  Bo- 
hemians, saying  that,  fearing  their  beloved 
God,  they  should  firmly  and  faithfully  defend 
God's  law,  in  view  of  his  reward  throughout 
eternity.  Then  Brother  Ziska  commended 

36 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

his  soul  to  God,  and  died  on  the  Wednesday 
before  the  day  of  St.  Gallus."  We  will  leave 
it  to  our  readers  to  decide  which  version  of 
his  death  is  more  credible,  in  view  of  the 
devout  and  godly  life  of  the  greatest  military 
leader  and  patriot  of  his  age. 

One  more  great  leader  of  the  Bohemians 
must  be  mentioned,  who  led  her  armies  be- 
fore her  sun  began  to  decline.  This  was  Pro- 
kop,  called  the  Great,  in  distinction  from 
another  less  distinguished  general,  Prokop 
the  Less.  Prokop  the  Great  was  the  direct 
successor  of  Ziska,  and  adopted  his  tactics. 
He  even  carried  the  war  into  the  enemy's 
country,  invading  Germany  on  one  side  and 
Hungary  on  the  other,  and  rivaling  both  the 
Germans  and  the  Hungarians  in  the  desola- 
tion which  he  left  behind  him. 

Another  great  crusade  by  the  allied  arm- 
ies was  planned,  and  one  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  seasoned  soldiers  were  sent 
against  Bohemia  in  the  last  desperate  effort 
to  subdue  her.  Prokop  could  not  muster  half 
as  many  Bohemians  to  oppose  them,  but  his 
courage  and  generalship  were  worth  a  hun- 

37 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

dred  thousand  troops.  The  invading  cru- 
saders were  encamped  on  a  plain  when  they 
heard  the  ominous  rattle  of  the  mailclad 
wagons  of  the  Bohemians,  and  heard  their 
war-song,  "  All  ye  warriors  of  God,"  which 
the  whole  army  chanted  in  solemn  measure 
and  with  stentorian  lungs.  More  than  two 
miles  distant  these  sounds  struck  terror  to 
the  hearts  of  the  allied  armies,  and  they  fled 
in  dire  confusion,  leaving  large  stores  and 
all  their  camp  equipment  behind  them,  while 
the  Bohemians,  with  scarcely  the  loss  of  a 
man,  pursued  the  flying  enemy.  This  was 
the  bloodless  victory  of  Domazlice,  and 
marked  the  climax  of  Bohemia's  Golden 
Age.  She  had  Europe  at  her  feet.  She  could 
dictate  her  own  terms.  But  she  was  content 
with  ridding  her  own  soil  of  invaders,  and 
never  attempted  to  impose  her  rule  on  her 
neighbors. 

From  this  date,  1431,  the  power  of  Bo- 
hemia gradually  declined.  No  other  great 
leader  arose,  either  as  statesman,  theologian, 
or  warrior,  to  take  the  place  of  King  John, 
John  Huss,  John  Ziska,  and  Prokop.  But  the 

33 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

decline  was  very  gradual,  and  was  brought 
about  by  internal  causes  quite  as  much  as  by 
external  pressure.  The  nation  at  this  date 
was  almost  wholly  devoted  to  the  Reformed 
religion,  what  was  called,  after  Luther's  day, 
"Protestant."  But  this  faith  showed  the 
serious  weakness  which  seems  to  adhere  in 
Protestantism:  the  people  could  not  agree 
among  themselves.  Warring  sects  arose 
among  the  Reformers.  The  Catholic  Church 
itself  was  reformed  in  some  particulars.  The 
Jesuits  became  exceedingly  active,  and  un- 
doubtedly were  the  most  influential  cause  in 
driving  Bohemia  back  to  the  ancient  church. 
Austria's  power  was  wholly  exerted  to  this 
end,  when  the  House  of  Hapsburg  suc- 
ceeded to  the  Bohemian  throne. 

Many  Bohemian  nobles  married  Spanish 
and  Italian  wives,  who  threw  their  influence 
in  favor  of  the  Jesuits,  whose  proselyting 
zeal  knew  no  bounds.  In  later  years  Spain, 
Italy,  Poland,  the  Catholics  of  Germany,  and 
even  Saxony,  whose  people  had  become  Pro- 
testants of  the  Lutheran  type  and  who  hated 
the  Calvinists  of  Bohemia  even  more  than 

39 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

their  Catholic  neighbors,  united  to  crush  out 
the  national  life  of  Bohemia.  This  was  nearly 
two  hundred  years  after  the  glorious  days  of 
Huss,  Ziska,  and  Prokop.  In  the  kaleido- 
scopic changes  of  the  Bohemian  throne, 
Frederick,  the  son-in-law  of  King  James  the 
First  of  England,  had  become,  by  election, 
King  of  Bohemia.  Even  King  James  was 
lukewarm  in  the  support  of  his  son-in-law, 
and  while  he  dallied  with  the  situation  and 
wrote  letters  of  good  advice,  he  became  uthe 
laughing-stock  of  the  Catholics  of  Europe." 
Such  was  the  situation  when  the  great  bat- 
tle of  the  White  Mountain  occurred  in  1620, 
the  battle  so  fatal  to  Bohemian  prosperity 
and  national  aspirations,  from  the  effects  of 
which,  though  nearly  three  centuries  have 
rolled  by,  she  has  not  yet  recovered.  The 
causes  of  this  disastrous  defeat  are  not  far  to 
seek.  Since  the  days  of  Huss  serfdom  had 
been  introduced  into  Bohemia.  The  peasants 
were  no  longer  freemen,  but  slaves  of  the 
soil.  The  spirit  of  democracy  which  ani- 
mated the  people  in  the  early  days  had  fled. 
The  battle  of  the  White  Mountain  was  fought 

40 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

by  mercenaries  on  both  sides,  but  the  mer- 
cenaries of  the  enemy  were  better  paid  and 
better  equipped.  King  Frederick  was  a  weak 
and  pusillanimous  ruler,  who  was  actually 
entertaining  some  foreign  envoys  at  a  ban- 
quet in  Prague  when  the  battle  of  the  White 
Mountain  was  being  waged  and  his  people 
were  being  slaughtered.  The  Protestants 
were  disheartened  and  divided,  the  Calvin- 
ists  and  Lutherans  hated  each  other  bitterly, 
while  the  Romanists,  embracing  all  the 
forces  of  the  allied  armies,  were  united  and 
confident.  All  these  causes  were  enough  and 
more  than  enough  to  account  for  the  terrible 
disaster  of  that  fatal  Sunday,  November  8, 
1620,  when  the  independence  of  Bohemia 
was  lost,  and  she  became  a  vassal  of  the 
Hapsburg  Dynasty. 

Ferdinand,  the  conquering  emperor,  who 
now  annexed  Bohemia  to  his  domains,  was 
not  slow  in  making  his  power  felt  in  a  hide- 
ously cruel  way.  All  the  leading  Bohemian 
nobles  were  captured,  and  a  few  months 
afterwards,  one  after  another,  were  led  to  the 
market-place  in  Prague  and  there  beheaded. 
41 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

No  one  of  them  showed  the  white  feather, 
but  like  the  bravest  Bohemians  of  former 
days,  as  Huss  and  Jerome  would  have  done, 
pleasantly  bade  good-bye  to  one  another,  as 
they  were  taken  from  prison  to  the  execu- 
tioner's block,  "  just  as  if  they  were  prepar- 
ing to  go  to  a  banquet  or  some  pastime." 
Their  heads  were  nailed  to  the  bridge  tower 
of  the  old  town,  where  they  remained  for  ten 
years,  a  ghastly  proof  of  the  destruction  of 
Bohemia  and  her  liberties.  Then  in  1631,  in 
the  temporary  triumph  of  a  Saxon  invasion  of 
Bohemia,  they  were  removed  by  the  return- 
ing exiles,  and  solemnly  buried  in  a  church  of 
Prague.  These  twenty-seven  nobles  have 
been  enrolled  by  the  people  of  Bohemia  in 
later  years,  by  Protestants  and  Catholics  alike, 
in  the  national  temple  of  fame  among  Bohe- 
mia's greatest  heroes  and  martyrs.  "  These 
melancholy  executions  mark  the  end  of  the 
old  and  independent  development  of  Bohe- 
mia," we  are  told.  "  The  destiny  of  the  coun- 
try was  henceforth  in  the  hands  of  foreigners, 
who  had  neither  comprehension  nor  sym- 
pathy with  its  former  institutions." 

42 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

The  year  of  this  disaster  of  the  White 
Mountain  is  significant.  On  the  very  day  that 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  drawing  near  to 
America  to  found  a  great,  free  democracy, 
the  democratic  forces  of  Bohemia  were  de- 
feated, and  her  star  went  down  in  bloodshed 
and  carnage.  We  cannot  dwell  at  length  on 
the  melancholy  years  that  succeeded.  The 
Thirty  Years'  War  followed,  or  at  least 
twenty-eight  of  these  dreadful  thirty,  for  the 
battle  of  the  White  Mountain  was  one  out- 
standing event  of  its  early  years.  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  were  ravaged  time  and  time 
again.  Whole  towns  and  villages  were  blotted 
out,  fields  were  left  untilled,  industries  were 
destroyed,  Prague  itself,  once  the  proudest 
city  of  Europe  and  the  capital  of  a  vast 
empire,  became  almost  a  deserted  village, 
and  the  population  of  the  Czech  countries  of 
over  three  millions  was  reduced  to  less  than 
one. 

The  Thirty  Years'  War  was  a  religious 
conflict,  and  of  course  the  Protestants  of 
Bohemia  were  the  sufferers  under  the  new 
regime.  They  were  despoiled  of  their  pos- 

43 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

sessions,  driven  from  their  homes,  exiled  from 
their  country,  and  murdered  on  every  pre- 
text. It  was  the  boast  of  Ferdinand  III  that 
he  would  not  rest  until  he  had  killed  or  driven 
out  of  Bohemia  every  Protestant  heretic.  He 
nearly  succeeded  in  carrying  out  his  threat, 
and,  contrary  to  the  general  opinion  that 
persecution  cannot  kill  a  religion,  Bohemia 
is  an  example  of  a  country  where,  by  means 
of  the  sword  and  the  inquisition,  one  faith 
has  almost  entirely  supplanted  another. 

Little  by  little  the  Austrian  Government 
not  only  suppressed  the  religion,but  abolished 
all  the  rights  and  liberties  of  ancient  Bohemia. 
At  last  she  attacked  the  spirit  of  nationality 
at  its  fountain-head,  and  a  hundred  years  ago 
forbade  the  use  of  the  national  language  in 
every  school  and  law-court  in  the  land.  In 
this,  however,  she  overreached  herself,  and 
by  this  act  of  foolish  tyranny  promoted  a 
reaction  in  favor  of  the  Czech  language. 
Through  this,  the  national  spirit  has  been  re- 
vived, and  the  old  flames  of  patriotism  have 
been  kindled  afresh.  Since  then,  a  new 
Bohemia  has  arisen,  not  yet  free  from  Aus- 

44 


Bohemia  and  Moravia " 

trian  domination,  but  an  industrious,  pro- 
sperous, comparatively  happy  Bohemia,  that 
honors  its  ancient  heroes  and  glories  in  its 
ancient  history.  Prague  has  regained  much 
of  its  old  importance,  not  as  the  capital  of 
an  empire,  but  as  the  capital  of  the  Czech 
race,  and  as  a  city  famous  throughout  the 
world  for  its  modern  schools  and  its  public 
institutions,  as  well  as  for  its  thrilling  his- 
tory and  its  checkered  career  of  victory  and 
defeat. 

The  present  Emperor,  Francis  Joseph, 
who  began  his  reign  in  1849  as  a  reaction- 
ary of  the  severest  type,  has  been  obliged  by 
force  of  circumstances  to  give  the  Czechs 
more  and  more  liberty  and  constantly  aug- 
mented privileges.  Their  beloved  language 
has  been  restored  to  them  in  the  schools 
and  the  courts;  local  government  has  been 
accorded  them;  and  though  they  have  not 
yet  achieved  an  independence  like  that  of 
Hungary,  the  Czechs  look  forward  to  the 
time  when  they  shall  be  equally  free  from 
the  dominion  of  Austria. 

It  should  have  been  said  that  serfdom  was 
45 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

abolished  more  than  a  century  and  a  quarter 
ago.  Now  free  and  compulsory  education 
has  been  adopted.  Manufactures,  many  of 
them  under  purely  Czech  management  and 
capital,  are  springing  up  everywhere,  and 
there  are  to-day  few  more  prosperous  sec- 
tions of  Europe  than  the  ancient  Kingdom 
of  Bohemia.  It  may  be  asked,  If  this  is  so, 
why  the  constant  and  swelling  tide  of  emi- 
gration to  America?  Many  answers  may  be 
given  to  this  question.  When  such  a  stream 
once  starts,  it  is  hard  to  stop  its  flow.  Brother 
calls  for  brother  across  the  Atlantic.  The 
children,  when  they  become  prosperous,  send 
for  the  old  folks  to  join  them.  Neighbor 
writes  home  to  neighbor,  telling  of  the  vastly 
greater  opportunities  for  enterprise  and  in- 
dustry in  the  new  world,  and  the  American 
neighbor  is  soon  joined  by  the  old  neighbor 
from  the  old  home.  The  spirit  of  adventure 
urges  the  most  enterprising  to  try  their  for- 
tunes in  the  new  world.  The  agents  of  the 
steamship  companies  are  constantly  solicit- 
ing patronage  for  the  steerage.  The  dislike 
of  military  conscription  drives  others  to  take 


Bohemia  and  Moravia 

ship  for  America.  Thus  all  these  causes, 
working  together,  keep  up  the  supply,  and 
the  steerage  accommodations  of  the  ships 
that  sail  from  Trieste  and  Hamburg,  Antwerp 
and  Bremen,  are  never  vacant. 

"  On  the  whole,"  says  a  careful  writer, 
who  has  personally  investigated  the  matter  on 
the  ground,  "I  found  surprisingly  few  cases 
of  emigrating  ne'er-do-wells,  and  in  nearly 
ten  months'  investigation,  I  could  hear  of 
only  one  case  of  assisted  emigration."  Most 
of  the  emigration  from  Bohemia  has  been 
from  the  southern  slopes,  where  the  soil  is 
poorer  and  the  climate  more  rigorous  than 
in  the  north.  Here,  too,  wages  are  much 
smaller  than  in  the  cities  like  Prague  and 
Pilsen,  and  we  cannot  wonder  that  laborers 
are  willing  to  exchange  the  twenty-five-cent 
wage  for  a  day  of  ten  hours  for  an  eight-hour 
day  and  a  two-dollar  wage,  even  if  the  ex- 
pense of  living  in  the  United  States  is  large 
enough  to  eat  up  part  of  the  difference.  No 
wonder  that  a  domestic  servant,  who  can  earn 
two  dollars  a  month  in  Bohemia,  is  attracted 
by  the  tales  of  importunate  and  humble  mis- 

47 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

tresses  in  New  York,  Boston,  and  Chicago 
who  will,  figuratively  speaking,  get  down  on 
their  knees  to  persuade  the  newly  arrived 
emigrant  to  grace  their  kitchens  at  a  stipend 
of  six  dollars  a  week. 


Ill 

COUNTRY   LIFE    IN  BOHEMIA  AND  MORAVIA 

The  Similarity  of  Modern  Cities  the  World  over  — The 
Goose-Girls  of  Bohemia  —  Human  Labor  and  Wire  Fences 

—  uFull  Peasant  "and  "Half  Peasant"  — The  Ribbons  of 
Land — A  Typical    Moravian    Village — "Horse    Peasant" 
and  "Ox  Peasant" — The  Dowry  of  a  Peasant's  Daughter  — 
The  Kind  of  People  America  needs  —  Whose  Fault  will  it  be? 

—  The  Good  Blood  of  the  Czechs. 

SINCE  we  have  learned  something  of  the 
heroic  but  bloody  history  of  Bohemia,  let  us 
look  at  the  more  pleasing  picture  of  Bohe- 
mian life  in  this  peaceful  twentieth  century. 
The  larger  cities  are  much  like  all  modern 
cities  in  every  part  of  the  civilized  world, 
for  the  tendency  is  for  all  great  agglomera- 
tions of  men  to  become  uniform,  dull  in 
appearance,  and  lacking  in  individuality. 
Evening  dress  is  the  same  in  New  York  and 
Prague,  the  same  in  Chicago  and  Czernowitz. 
Hotel  waiters,  too,  assume  the  same  spike- 
tail  coat  and  ample  shirt-bosom  in  the  cafes 
of  Boston  and  Budapest.  You  must  visit  the 
country  districts  to  find  individuality  of  cos- 
49 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

tume  and  custom.  Here  the  shepherds  pat- 
ronize their  own  flocks  for  clothing,  and  are 
immensely  picturesque  in  their  stiff  sheep- 
skin cloaks,  which  serve  as  shelter  from  the 
rain  and  snow  in  winter  and  from  the  sun  in 
summer.  Sometimes  these  cloaks  are  beau- 
tifully embroidered.  In  other  districts  the 
woolly  side  is  left  out  and  the  skinny  side 
in;  but  however  they  are  worn,  they  always 
form  a  striking  feature  of  the  landscape,  as 
their  owners  lounge  on  hillside  or  plain,  staff 
in  hand,  while  their  docile  flocks  graze  peace- 
fully near  by. 

The  goose-girls  also  attract  the  unaccus- 
tomed eye.  All  through  the  Slavic  countries 
they  may  be  seen  from  every  car  window, 
watching  their  feathered  flock.  Their  gay 
petticoats  and  bright  kerchiefs,  the  distaff 
and  shuttle  which  they  hold  in  their  hands, 
or  the  long  stockings  which  they  are  knitting, 
all  seem  to  carry  one  back  from  the  twenti- 
eth century  to  the  sixteenth.  Shepherds  and 
goose-girls  have  not  changed  with  the  pass- 
ing centuries  as  have  their  city  neighbors. 
While  watching  them  you  forget  that  there 

5° 


Country  Life  in  Bohemia 

are  such  things  as  trolley  cars  and  telephones, 
X-rays  and  wireless  telegraphy,  to  disturb 
one's  peace. 

One  Bohemian  peasant  was  heard  to  berate 
the  extravagance  of  a  farmer  who  built  a 
fence  around  his  pasture  instead  of  having  a 
man  to  watch  his  sheep  and  a  girl  to  watch 
his  geese.  That  remark,  as  has  been  said, 
tells  volumes  concerning  the  difference  be- 
tween farm  life  in  America  and  in  the  Slavic 
countries  to-day.  In  one  country,  wire  fences 
are  cheaper  than  human  labor.  In  the  other, 
human  labor  is  cheaper  than  wire  fences. 
Yet  wire  fences  and  farm  automobiles  and 
threshing-machines  have  brought  with  them 
losses  as  well  as  gains,  and  it  is  not  as  yet 
a  closed  question  whether  the  farmer  is 
happier  in  the  old  world  than  in  the  new, 
though  there  is  no  question  as  to  where  he 
is  the  more  prosperous. 

Up  to  the  year  1848  the  peasant's  lot  in 
Bohemia  was  indeed  hard,  for  though  actual 
serfdom  had  been  abolished,  yet  all  the  land 
was  owned  by  the  lords.  To  be  sure,  the 
peasant  had  hereditary  rights  in  the  land, 

5' 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

yet  he  could  not  sell  or  mortgage  it,  or  even 
give  it  up,  without  his  lord's  permission.  He 
must  do  a  certain  amount  of  work  for  his 
lord,  and  render  certain  tribute  in  the  shape 
of  butter,  eggs,  and  poultry,  for  which  he 
received  nothing. 

A  mighty  upheaval  came  to  all  Europe  in 
1848.  Paris  was  in  revolt  against  the  King. 
The  German  princes  were  compelled  to  call 
a  national  parliament  at  Frankfort.  Kossuth 
was  fighting  for  liberty  in  Hungary,  and 
Bohemia  shared  in  the  blessed  movement  for 
the  rights  of  the  people.  From  that  time  the 
peasants  were  allowed  actually  to  own  the 
land  they  cultivated,  though  it  took  them  some 
years  to  repay  to  the  state  the  redemption 
money  which  had  been  advanced  to  the  lords. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  word 
"peasant"  in  Bohemia,  or  indeed  in  Austria- 
Hungary  generally,  implies  degradation  or 
anything  derogatory.  It  corresponds  more 
to  our  word  "farmer"  than  any  other,  and 
some  of  these  peasants  are  very  considerable 
farmers,  too.  A  "full  peasant"  owns  from 
fifty  to  one  hundred  acres  of  land,  a  "half 


Country  Life  in  Bohemia 

peasant"  half  as  much,  a  "  quarter  peasant" 
a  still  smaller  amount,  while  below  the 
quarter  peasants  are  still  smaller  fractions, 
and  also  day  laborers  and  workmen  who 
own  not  a  rood  of  land. 

Let  us  visit  one  of  the  peasant  homes.  It 
is  a  small  but  comfortable  adobe  house,  made 
of  wattle  and  plastered  with  mud,  and  white- 
washed on  the  outside,  while  the  roof  is  a 
generous  overhanging  thatch.  If  our  host  is 
a  "full  peasant  "of  the  better  class,  his  house 
is  of  brick,  or  even  stone,  perhaps,  with  a 
tile  roof.  His  barns  and  outbuildings  are 
commodious,  and  great  stacks  of  hay  sur- 
round the  house,  at  which  the  cattle  may 
nibble  throughout  the  winter.  Geese  hiss, 
turkeys  gobble,  hens  cackle  about  the  door- 
yard,  and  a  loud-mouthed  watchdog  gives 
notice  of  our  approach.  Altogether  it  is  a 
pleasant  domestic  scene,  and  we  do  not  see, 
at  first,  why  the  boys  from  such  a  farm  should 
care  to  risk  their  untried  fortunes  in  far-off 
America. 

But  this  is  a  "full  peasant's  "  house  that  we 
are  visiting.  A  "quarter  peasant"  or  a  "cot- 

53 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

tage,"  with  a  single  acre  or  two,  might  tell  a 
very  different  story.  Even  at  the  door  of  a"full 
peasant's  "  house  we  see  no  automobile,  as  we 
should  very  likely  see  in  the  yard  of  a  Kanr 
sas  or  a  Dakota  farmer,  and  we  certainly  see 
no  steam  gang-plows  about  the  premises, 
capable  of  breaking  up  a  hundred  acres 
in  a  day  or  two.  Instead,  we  see  the  land 
divided  up  into  long,  narrow  ribbons,  a  few 
yards  wide,  and  running  out  into  the  distance 
almost  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach.  These 
narrow  strips  of  land  are  so  divided  because, 
according  to  immemorial  custom,  every  son 
inherits  his  proportion  of  the  family  estate, 
which  is  divided  lengthwise  so  that  none  shall 
have  the  advantage  of  the  others  in  location 
or  in  quality  of  the  soil. 

Miss  Balch,  in  her  interesting  book  on 
"  Our  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens,"  tells  us  that 
she  has  counted  thirty  men  ploughing  at  the 
same  time,  each  working  his  share  of  the 
same  big,  unbroken  field,  each  man's  share 
marked  not  by  hedge,  fence,  or  wall,  but  only 
by  a  furrow  about  a  foot  wide.  It  is  said, 
and  I  believe  the  case  has  actually  occurred, 

54 


Country  Life  in  Bohemia 

that  the  strips  are  sometimes  so  narrow  that 
a  man  must  walk  on  his  neighbor's  land  to 
lead  the  plough-horse  on  his  own.  She  de- 
scribes a  typical  Moravian  village,  where 
the  houses  stand  in  a  row  on  each  side  of  the 
street,  which  is  lined  with  a  solid  facing  of 
house-fronts  and  high  yard  walls  or  gates. 
Back  of  this  village  street  stretch  cultivated 
fields  in  long  strips.  In  this  village  of  Prikazy 
are  no  "whole  peasants,"  nothing  above 
"  half  peasants  " ;  but  there  are  fifty-six  of 
these  "  half  peasants,"  with  farms  of  about 
fifty  acres  each.  These  farms  are  cut  up  into 
shoestring  strips  of  land,  so  that  the  same 
farmer  may  own  a  little  strip  in  a  dozen  dif- 
ferent places  and  even  on  different  sides  of 
the  town.  Besides  the  "  half  peasants  "  are 
humbler  folk,  with  only  twelve  or  fourteen 
acres. 

The  larger  farmers  usually  own  three 
horses,  and  the  horse  determines  a  man's  so- 
cial standing,  for  his  poorer  neighbors  must 
plough  the  soil  with  the  aid  of  only  an  ox. 
Sometimes  a  poor  aristocrat  keeps  a  pair  of 
horses  that  he  cannot  afford,  simply  for  the 

55 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

sake  of  being  reckoned  a  "  horse  peasant "  in- 
stead of  an  "  ox  peasant."  Substitute  "  auto- 
mobile "  for  "  horse,"  and  we  find  that  human 
nature  is  much  the  same  in  America  as  in 
Moravia.  Inside  the  house,  and  evenaboutthe 
farm,  the  mother  and  daughter  may  go  bare- 
foot, without  in  any  way  losing  their  social 
standing,  though  they  maybe  abundantly  able 
to  purchase  American  shoes,  which  are  the 
standard  of  comfort  and  elegance  in  this  part 
of  the  world.  The  women,  too,  will  help  on 
the  farm  when  need  demands,  and  consider 
it  no  reflection  on  their  womanly  character. 
For  my  part,  I  see  nothing  derogatory  to 
woman  in  farm  labor.  It  is  a  hundred  times 
healthier  and  happier  work  than  that  which 
many  of  these  same  Bohemian  women  may 
be  driven  to  in  the  sweat-shops  of  America. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  we  are  told  on  good 
authority  that  the  dowry  of  a  peasant's  daugh- 
ter in  this  same  Moravian  village  of  Prikazy 
is  from  five  to  twelve  thousand  dollars,  and 
hundreds  of  dollars  more  will  be  spent  on 
the  wedding  festivities. 

Not  all,  to  be  sure,  who  come  to  America 
56 


A    CROATIAN    COUPLE    IX    HOLIDAY    COSTUME 


Country  Life  in  Bohemia 

from  Bohemia  are  of  the  land-cultivating 
class.  Many  skilled  workmen  emigrate,  espe- 
cially of  later  years.  There  are  also  labor- 
ers and  house-servants.  But  nearly  half  the 
people  of  Bohemia  are  agriculturists,  and  a 
much  larger  portion  of  the  people  of  Hun- 
gary, Galicia,  and  Dalmatia,  whom  we  shall 
consider  later.  So  by  far  the  largest  number 
of  the  new  Americans  from  the  old  homes 
of  Austria-Hungary  are  genuine  sons  of  the 
soil,  the  very  people  whom  America  most 
needs, — honest,  frugal,  hard-working,  obe- 
dient to  law,  respectful  to  superiors  and  yet 
self-respecting,  as  those  people  are  bound  to 
e  who  have  belonged  to  a  settled  social 
order.  They  have  acknowledged  the  rights 
of  superiors,  to  be  sure,  but  most  of  them, 
even  the  "  half "  and  "  quarter  peasants," 
have  people  beneath  them  in  the  social  scale, 
who  look  up  to  them  and  to  whom  they  owe 
oversight  and  protection. 

If  Bohemian  and  Moravian  emigrants  do 
not  make  good  American  citizens,  it  will 
be  the  fault  of  America  and  not  of  Bohemia 
and  Moravia.  If  they  huddle  together  in  the 

57 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

great  cities  or  coal-mining  towns,  instead  of 
cultivating  the  prairie  soil  (since  the  soil  has 
been  their  inheritance  for  centuries),  if  the 
children  grow  up  unruly  and  untamed,  look- 
ing down  upon  their  parents  as  "foreigners," 
if  our  jails  and  reformatories  are  recruited 
from  their  ranks,  American  environment  and 
training  will  have  more  to  do  with  this  moral 
deterioration  than  the  countries  from  which 
the  people  come. 

The  Czechs  are  the  descendants  of  heroes. 
Crecy  and  Domazlice  were  as  bravely  fought 
as  Culloden  or  Marston  Moor.  The  Czechs 
have  good  blood  in  their  veins,  good  sinews 
in  their  arms,  stout  hearts,  honest  purposes, 
as  they  begin  life  anew  in  a  new  world,  far 
from  their  old  homes.  The  kind  of  Ameri- 
cans that  they  will  make,  whether  worthy  or 
unworthy,  will  depend  upon  the  schools  and 
churches  of  America,  and  still  more  upon  the 
neighborly  influences  and  examples  which 
they  find  in  their  new  homes. 


IV 

THE    PEOPLE    WITHOUT   A    COUNTRY 

Poles  but  no  Poland  — A  Pathetic  Epitaph —Where  is 
Galicia?  — Its  Historic  Cities— The  Four  Millions  of  Poles 
in  the  United  States  — The  Novelist  Sienkiewicz  —  Poland's 
Weak  and  Wicked  Kings  —  Henri  de  Valois  and  the  Demo- 
cratic Spirit  of  Poland  —  How  a  King  stole  away  from  his 
Kingdom  —  Sobieski  elected  in  spite  of  himself —  His  Defeat 
of  the  Turks  —  His  Letter  to  his  Wife  —  Dr.  South's  Opinion 
of  Sobieski— The  Decay  of  Poland  — The  Revival  of  the 
Spirit  of  Liberty  under  Kosciuszko  —  His  Share  in  Our  Own 
Revolution  —  The  Poles  and  Napoleon  I  — Poland's  Last 
Struggle  for  Freedom  —  The  Poles  in  Russia,  Prussia,  and 
Austria. 

IF  the  people  of  Polish  ancestry,  most  of 
them  in  the  first  generation,  who  live  in  the 
United  States  were  massed  in  New  England, 
they  would  occupy  five  states  as  populous 
as  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Con- 
necticut, and  Rhode  Island.  Five  sovereign 
states  like  these,  if  not  the  largest,  are  to  be 
reckoned  with  in  the  sisterhood  of  common- 
wealths; and  a  country  that  in  a  generation 
can  populate  five  such  states,  and  is  likely 
in  another  generation  to  people  as  many 
59 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

more,  is  worth  the  sympathetic  consideration 
of  every  American. 

There  are  Poles,  but  alas !  there  is  no  Po- 
land to-day,  not  even  in  the  sense  that  there 
is  a  Bohemia  or  a  Moravia.  These  lands, 
though  provinces  of  another  power,  are  little 
nations  within  a  great  nation.  They  have 
their  own  language  and  laws.  Poland  is  like 
a  garment  rent  in  three  pieces  and  divided 
among  as  many  different  owners.  No  won- 
der that  the  Poles,  bereft  of  their  national- 
ity, have  looked  with  longing  eyes,  and  ever 
more  and  more,  to  the  Land  of  Promise, 
where  Russian,  Prussian,  and  Austrian  can 
vex  them  no  more. 

The  pathetic  epitaph  which  Niemcewicz, 
the  Polish  poet  and  revolutionist,  wrote  for 
his  own  tombstone,  shortly  before  his  death, 
expresses  the  feelings  of  the  patriotic  Pole 
in  many  a  land :  — 

"  O  ye  exiles,  who  so  long  wander  over  the  world, 
When  will  ye  find  a  resting-place  for  your  many 

steps  ? 
The  wild  dove  has  its  nest,  and  the  worm  a  clod  of 

earth, 

Each  man  a  country,  but  the  Pole  a  grave." 
60 


The  People  without  a  Country 

No  more  ruthless  rapine  of  a  nation  is  re- 
corded in  the  history  of  the  world  than  the 
division  of  Poland  between  Russia,  Prussia, 
and  Austria.  In  this  division,  Russia  took 
the  lion's  share  (about  one  half  of  the  terri- 
tory and  of  the  people) ;  but  Austria,  with 
whose  Polish  inhabitants  we  have  most  to 
do  in  this  book,  took  a  very  considerable 
slice  of  territory  and  many  millions  of  in- 
habitants. Though  the  Poles  acknowledge 
unwilling  allegiance  to  all  these  powers,  yet 
they  have  so  many  traits  in  common  that  a 
description  of  the  Austrian  Poles  may  serve 
for  all.  They  live  for  the  most  part  in 
Galicia.  There  is  not  even  an  "Austrian 
Poland,"  so  called,  as  there  is  a  "  Russian 
Poland";  but  they  occupy  a  province  which 
they  share  with  Ruthenians  and  Jews,  whom 
they  hate  as  devoutly  as  they  do  the  Aus- 
trians  themselves. 

I  imagine  that  many  of  my  readers  are 
somewhat  hazy  as  to  the  geographical  loca- 
tion of  Galicia.  As  a  recent  writer  has  said, 
"Most  people  are  in  doubt  as  to  whether 
Galicia  is  in  Spain,  or  is  the  land  of  the  peo- 

61 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

pie  to  whom  St.  Paul  once  wrote  an  epistle." 
A  study  of  the  map  will  show  that  Galicia  is 
neither  the  Galician  province  of  Spain,  nor 
ancient  Galatia  in  Asia  Minor,  but  the  most 
northern  province  of  Austria,  stretching,  with 
its  neighbor,  the  Bukowina,  around  the  north- 
eastern edge  of  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary, 
with  Russia  on  the  north.  It  joins  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  on  the  west,  with  the  narrow 
little  province  of  Silesia  between.  It  is  about 
the  size  of  West  Virginia,  and  is  the  largest 
of  the  Austrian  provinces. 

For  the  most  part,  Galicia  is  one  seemingly 
interminable  prairie ;  and  as  one  travels  across 
it  in  winter,  it  gives  him  a  sense  of  dreary 
desolation  that  few  parts  of  the  world  sug- 
gest. Yet  it  is  by  no  means  an  uninteresting 
land.  Its  history  is  alive  with  great  historic 
characters  and  stirring  events.  Its  ancient 
cities,  like  Cracow  and  Lemberg,  delight  the 
traveler  far  more  than  the  modern  towns  of 
Europe  and  America,  which  look  as  though 
they  might  be  built  by  machinery  from  the 
same  brick-kiln.  Its  people  are  of  supreme 
interest  to  Americans,  since  so  many  tens  of 

62 


The  People  without  a  Country 

thousands  of  new  Americans  are  constantly 
coming  from  these  old  homes  of  Galicia.  But 
with  all  its  interest,  it  is  a  hard  and  rugged 
country,  cold  and  wind-swept  in  winter, 
and  baked  by  the  summer's  suns.  Yet  it  is 
from  just  such  countries  that  the  hardiest 
people  come;  those  who,  other  things  being 
equal,  make  the  best  citizens. 

Of  the  three  chief  nationalities  of  the  pro- 
vince, Poles,  Ruthenians,  and  Jews,  the  Poles 
and  the  Ruthenians  are  about  equal  in  num- 
bers, and  the  Jews  a  scant  ten  per  cent  of  the 
whole  population,  but  a  mighty  factor,  after 
all,  in  the  commercial  world  of  Galicia.  The 
Poles  occupy  the  western  end  of  this  queer- 
shaped,  jagged  province,  the  Ruthenians 
the  eastern  end;  and  though  there  is  some 
overlapping  territorially,  there  is,  to  put  it 
mildly,  no  love  lost  between  the  races. 

The  four  millions  of  Poles  in  America 
come  from  Russia  and  Prussia  as  well  as 
Galicia,  but  they  are  much  alike  in  racial 
characteristics  and  temperament,  and  all  look 
back  to  the  same  splendid  history,  the  same 
heroic  leaders,  the  same  glorious  golden 

63 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

day  when  Poland  stretched  from  the  Baltic 
almost  to  the  Black  Sea,  and  when  she  was 
able  to  decide  the  destinies  of  Europe.  The 
Poland  of  to-day  cannot  be  understood  apart 
from  her  history.  The  meanest  Pole  who 
lands  at  Ellis  Island  has  a  heritage  in  the 
annals  of  a  noble  ancestry.  He  is  proud  of 
his  country,  even  in  its  disembodiment,  proud 
of  the  story  of  her  great  achievements,  proud 
of  her  language,  which  has  been  the  vehicle  of 
song  and  story  and  splendid  prose. 

No  modern  novelist  has  commanded  a 
style  more  nervous  and  at  the  same  time 
more  elevated  than  Sienkiewicz,  whose  great 
religious  novel,  "Quo  Vadis,"  is  as  popular 
in  America  as  in  Poland.  No  wonder  that  a 
Polish  poet  writes:  — 

Let  the  Pole  smile  with  manly  pride  when  the 
inhabitant  of  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  or  Seine  calls 
his  language  rude;  let  him  hear  with  keen  satisfac- 
tion and  the  dignity  of  a  judge  the  stranger  who 
painfully  struggles  with  the  Polish  pronunciation, 
like  a  Sybarite  trying  to  lift  an  old  Roman  coat  of 
armor,  or  when  he  strives  to  articulate  the  language 
of  men  with  the  weak  accents  of  childhood.  .  .  . 
Our  language  has  its  harmony,  its  melody,  but  it  is 


The  People  without  a  Country 

the  murmur  of  an  oak  of  three  hundred  years,  and 
not  the  plaintive  and  feeble  cry  of  a  reed  swayed  by 
every  wind. 

The  story  of  such  a  people,  with  such  a  his- 
tory and  such  a  language,  should  be  familiar 
to  all  their  fellow  Americans.  Poland  differs 
from  her  near  neighbor,  Bohemia,  in  that  she 
lacked  in  the  days  of  her  earlier  history  great 
kings  and  leaders,  such  as  made  Bohemia  fa- 
mous and  powerful.  Neither  did  the  Reforma- 
tion make  much  headway  in  Poland.  Po- 
land has  no  blind  King  John,  no  John  Huss 
or  John  Ziska  or  Prokop,  or  any  long  line  of 
heroes  and  reformers  in  her  early  days  to 
make  her  illustrious.  Her  people,  to  be  sure, 
were  equally  brave  and  virtuous,  but  in  read- 
ing her  history  we  have  to  search  through  a 
long  line  of  weak  and  wicked  kings  and  magis- 
trates, who  robbed  the  people  of  their  rights, 
and  constantly  increased  their  own  power 
and  that  of  the  nobles  at  the  expense  of  the 
peasants.  The  Boleslas  kings,  the  Casimirs, 
the  Jagiellos,  all  were  wanting  in  true  kingly 
traits.  Some  were  weak,  some  stupid,  some 
stubborn,  some  licentious;  almost  all  sought 
65 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

their  own  advantage  rather  than  the  good  of 
their  subjects. 

The  year  after  the  massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew, the  brother  of  the  execrated  King 
of  France,  Charles  IX,  who  ordered  the 
massacre,  was  invited  to  become  King  of 
Poland,  and  the  invitation  was  accepted.  A 
most  gorgeous  embassy  was  sent  from  Po- 
land to  Paris  to  bring  the  new  king  to  his 
new  throne.  The  splendor  and  pomp  of  this 
embassy,  the  magnificence  of  its  apparel,  the 
erudition  of  the  ambassadors,  who  could 
speak  fluently  in  Latin,  French,  German, 
and  Italian,  while  the  French  nobles  when 
addressed  in  Latin  could  only  stammer  or 
reply  by  signs,  all  these  indications  of  Po- 
land's wealth  and  learning  astonished  Paris 
and  indeed  all  Europe. 

The  terms  imposed  on  Henri  de  Valois 
when  he  became  king  showed  that  the  Po- 
lish nobles  at  this  time  could  boast  not  only 
education  but  spirit  and  common  sense.  The 
King  was  obliged  to  sign  a  compact  in  which 
he  agreed  that  he  should  have  no  voice  in 
the  choice  of  his  successor;  that  the  non- 
66 


The  People  without  a  Country 

Catholics  should  have  equal  rights  with 
others;  that  no  foreigner  could  hold  any  pub- 
lic office;  and  that  the  King  must  neither 
marry  nor  divorce  his  wife  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  National  Diet.  These  terms 
showed  the  democratic  spirit  of  Poland  at 
this  date,  or  at  least  the  power  of  the  nobles, 
and  it  can  well  be  imagined  they  were  par- 
ticularly offensive  to  a  brother  of  Charles  IX, 
especially  the  provision  that  secured  the 
rights  of  non-Catholics.  However,  he  had  to 
sign  the  decree,  though  he  soon  got  tired  of 
his  bargain,  and  five  months  later  ran  away 
from  Cracow  and  escaped  to  France,  leav- 
ing his  Polish  capital  in  the  night  and  se- 
cretly, like  a  runaway  schoolboy.  His  bro- 
ther, the  murderer  of  the  Protestants,  had  in 
the  mean  time  died,  and  he  had  inherited 
the  throne  of  France.  He  never  returned  to 
Poland.  The  story  of  a  king  clandestinely  es- 
caping from  his  own  throne,  and  being  pur- 
sued by  his  subjects,  who  tried  to  bring  him 
back  to  his  duty,  is  one  of  the  humors  of 
history;  but  Poland  was  well  rid  of  a  worth- 
less king. 

67 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

One  bad  or  weak  king  succeeded  another, 
with  only  an  occasional  brief  interregnum 
of  valor  and  prosperity,  as  in  the  reign  of 
Stephen  Bathori,  Prince  of  Transylvania, 
who  ruled  from  1576  to  1586.  After  this  a 
hundred  years  more  of  gradual  decay  under 
incompetent  rulers  set  in  for  poor  Poland, 
when  her  national  spirit  flamed  up  again,  and 
the  sun  of  her  old-time  glory  seemed  about 
to  rise  once  more.  This  was  in  1674,  when 
in  one  of  the  frequent  kingly  elections,  So- 
bieski,  a  famous  general,  who  had  already 
shown  his  prowess  against  the  Turks,  pro- 
posed in  the  Diet  the  name  of  the  Prince  of 
Conde  for  king.  While  this  was  being  dis- 
cussed, in  a  sudden  burst  of  inspiration  one 
of  the  nobles  of  the  Diet  cried  out,  "  Let  a 
Pole  rule  over  Poland !  "  The  cry  reached 
the  popular  heart,  and  Sobieski,  in  spite  of 
himself,  was  elected  King  of  Poland,  and  as 
the  event  proved,  added  a  lustrous  page  to 
her  history.  The  story  reminds  us  of  one 
of  our  own  American  Presidents,  who  was 
nominated  practically  while  naming,  and  in 
good  faith,  another  for  the  presidential  chair. 

68 


The  People  without  a  Country 

During  Sobieski's  reign  (his  kingly  title 
was  John  III),  the  Turks  were  threatening 
to  overrun  Europe.  In  fact  all  southeastern 
Europe  was  in  their  power.  Servia,  Hungary, 
parts  of  Poland  were  in  the  grasp  of  the  Tar- 
tars, and  it  looked  as  though  all  Europe  might 
become  a  vassal  of  the  great  Mohammedan 
power.  The  resources  of  Hungary  and  the 
other  buffer  states,  which  had  so  long  kept 
the  might  of  Islam  at  bay,  though  at  their 
own  expense,  were  well-nigh  exhausted.  In 
1683  the  Turks,  with  enormous  forces  of 
infantry  and  cavalry  and  uncounted  camp- 
stores,  left  Belgrade  on  their  march  to  Vi- 
enna; if  they  conquered  that  city,  Europe 
would  be  at  their  feet.  The  cowardly  Em- 
peror Leopold  fled  from  his  capital,  and  all 
the  wealthier  inhabitants,  to  the  number  of 
sixty  thousand,  followed  suit,  leaving  only 
as  many  more  of  the  poorer  people  and  some 
twenty  thousand  soldiers  to  defend  the  city. 
The  fate  of  Vienna,  of  Austria,  perhaps  of 
Europe,  seemed  sealed. 

But  at  last  relief  came  to  the  beleaguered 
city.  Sobieski  set  out  from  Cracow  at  the 

69 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

head  of  his  Polish  veterans.  He  was  joined 
by  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  and  together  they 
commanded  an  army  of  seventy  thousand 
men.  The  Polish  cavalry  was  especially 
conspicuous,  with  its  fine  horses  and  splen- 
did equipment.  Sobieski  himself  led  the  way, 
shouting  in  Latin:  "Not  unto  us,  O  Lord, 
not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy  name  give  glory." 
The  united  armies  were  victorious  all  along 
the  line.  The  Turks  fled  in  wild  dismay. 
Many  thousands  were  killed,  including  six 
pashas,  while  the  Grand  Vizier  himself,  with 
a  mere  remnant  of  his  army,  managed  to 
reach  Belgrade.  This  was  the  izth  of  Sep- 
tember, 1683.  On  the  following  day  Sobieski 
wrote  a  most  interesting  letter  to  his  wife, 
which  tells  of  the  tremendous  extent  of  his 
victory. 

Only  Joy  of  my  Soul  [he  wrote];  Charming  and 
Much-Beloved  Mariette!  God  be  praised  forever! 
He  has  given  the  victory  to  our  nation!  He  has 
given  such  a  triumph  as  past  ages  have  never  seen. 
All  the  camp  of  the  Mussulmans,  all  their  artillery, 
infinite  riches,  have  fallen  into  our  hands.  The  ap- 
proaches to  the  city,  the  fields  around,  are  covered 
with  the  dead  of  the  infidel  army,  and  the  remains  of 

70 


The  People  without  a  Country 

it  are  flying  in  consternation.  Our  people  are  bring- 
ing us  every  minute  camels,  mules,  oxen,  and  sheep, 
which  the  enemy  had  with  him,  and  besides  an  in- 
numerable quantity  of  prisoners.  ...  It  is  impos- 
sible to  describe  all  the  refinements  of  luxury  which 
the  Grand  Vizier  had  collected  in  his  tents.  There 
were  baths,  little  gardens  with  fountains,  even  a 
little  parrot,  which  our  soldiers  pursued  but  could  not 
capture.  To-day  I  went  to  see  the  city.  It  could  not 
have  held  out  five  days  longer.  It  is  all  riddled  with 
bullets.  Those'  immense  bastions  perforated  and 
half  tumbling  to  pieces  have  a  terrible  aspect;  one 
would  think  they  were  great  masses  of  rocks.  All 
the  soldiers  did  their  duty;  they  attribute  the  vic- 
tory to  God  and  ourselves.  .  .  .  All  have  embraced 
me  and  called  me  their  savior.  I  have  been  in  two 
churches  where  the  people  kissed  my  hands,  feet, 
and  clothes.  Others  who  could  only  touch  me  at  a 
distance  cried  out,  "Ah!  let  me  kiss  your  victorious 
hands!" 

I  have  quoted  at  some  length  from  this 
long  letter,  which  Professor  Morfill  tells  us 
was  discovered  by  accident  nearly  two  cen- 
turies later,  because  it  tells  in  graphic  lan- 
guage the  story  of  one  of  the  world's  decisive 
battles  in  the  words  of  the  great  general  who 
won  it.  Incidentally,  it  shows  Sobieski  to  be 
a  writer  of  no  mean  power,  combining  in 

7* 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

himself  gifts  of  the  sword  and  the  pen,  as  did 
Julius  Caesar  and  Napoleon.  It  shows  him, 
too,  in  the  light  of  a  devoted  husband,  whose 
first  account  of  the  victory  was  to  his  beloved 
wife.  The  next  day  after  the  battle  a  solemn 
service  was  performed  in  the  Cathedral  of 
Vienna,  at  which  John  Sobieski  was  present, 
and  the  priest  preached  from  the  text:  "There 
was  a  man  sent  from  God,  whose  name  was 
John"  -a  case  surely  where  an  "accommo- 
dated text "  was  most  appropriate. 

The  King  lived  thirteen  years  after  his 
great  victory,  but  his  later  years  were  em- 
bittered by  dissensions  at  home  and  trouble 
abroad.  The  Polish  nobility  were  factious 
and  treasonable,  as  was  their  habit.  Sobieski 
was  snubbed  by  the  foolish,  cowardly  King 
Leopold  of  Austria,  whose  kingdom  he  had 
saved.  Louis  XIV  of  France  plotted  against 
him,  and  tried  to  accomplish  his  overthrow. 
The  common  people  were  harassed  by  the 
constant  wars  that  Sobieski  had  to  wage 
against  his  enemies.  At  last  the  old  king, 
worn  out  in  body  and  soul  by  the  intrigues 
of  his  enemies  and  the  ingratitude  of  his 

72 


The  People  without  a  Country 

nobles,  died,  saying  with  his  last  breath: 
"Corruption  universally  prevails.  Judgment 
is  obtained  by  money.  The  voice  of  conscience 
is  not  heard,  and  reason  and  equity  are  no 
more."  This  was  not  merely  the  pessimistic 
utterance  of  a  sick  old  man.  It  too  well  in- 
dicated the  condition  of  Poland,  whose  decay 
had  set  in  long  before  the  time  of  Sobieski. 
The  following  description  of  the  great  king 
and  general  is  interesting  because  it  was 
written  by  a  personal  acquaintance,  and  that 
acquaintance  no  other  than  the  famous  divine, 
Dr.  South,  whose  sermons  are  so  much  ad- 
mired by  modern  scholars,  and  who  was 
chaplain  to  an  English  embassy  that  visited 
Poland  during  Sobieski's  reign. 

As  to  what  relates  to  his  Majesty's  person  [wrote 
Dr.  South],  he  is  a  tall  and  corpulent  prince,  large- 
faced  and  full  eyes,  and  goes  always  with  the  same 
dress  as  his  subjects,  with  his  hair  cut  round  about 
his  ears  like  a  monk,  and  wears  a  fur  cap,  but  ex- 
traordinarily rich  with  diamonds  and  jewels,  large 
whiskers,  and  no  neck-cloth.  .  .  .  He  never  wears 
any  gloves,  and  his  long  coat  is  of  strong  scarlet 
cloth,  lined  in  the  winter  with  rich  fur,  but  in  the 
summer  only  with  silk.  Instead  of  shoes  he  always 
wears,  both  abroad  and  at  home,  Turkey  leather 

73 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

boots,  with  very  thin  soles  and  hollow  deep  heels 
made  of  a  blade  of  silver  bent  hoopwise  into  the 
form  of  a  half-moon.  He  carries  also  a  large  scimitar 
by  his  side,  the  sheath  equally  flat  and  broad  from 
the  handle  to  the  bottom,  and  curiously  set  with 
diamonds. 

After  the  death  of  Sobieski  the  decay  of 
Poland  went  on  apace  under  the  succession 
of  Saxon  kings.  We  can  understand  better 
how  a  century  later  Poland  came  to  be  di- 
vided into  three  parts,  when  we  read  what 
a  French  abbe,  a  vigorous  contemporary 
writer,  tells  us,  as  quoted  by  Professor  Mor- 
fill:  — 

The  nobility  of  Poland  had  power  of  life  or  death 
over  the  serfs,  so  that  they  could  put  them  to  death 
whenever  they  chose.  The  nobles  were  splendid  in 
their  dress.  They  shaved  their  heads,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  tuft  on  the  top.  They  did  not  wear 
beards,  but  long,  thick  mustaches,  which  almost 
entirely  covered  their  mouths.  The  ladies  were 
dressed  in  the  French  style.  If  one  of  them  left  her 
house  to  go  to  church  or  to  pay  a  visit  at  but  a  dis- 
tance of  twenty  paces,  she  always  went  in  a  carriage 
drawn  by  six  horses.  The  peasants  were  obliged  to 
work  five  days  a  week  on  their  masters'  estates.  If 
they  neglected  this  duty,  they  were  liable  to  personal 
chastisement. 

74 


The  People  without  a  Country 

Here  is  the  story,  in  a  paragraph,  of  the 
causes  of  the  fall  of  a  great  kingdom  and  a 
vigorous,  gifted  people:  weak  and  imbecile 
kings;  luxurious,  pleasure-loving,  selfish, 
autocratic  nobility;  a  depressed,  despised, 
and  down-trodden  peasantry,  working  five 
days  out  of  the  seven  for  their  feudal  masters 
and  two  days  for  themselves.  No  wonder 
that  Poland  at  last  fell  an  easy  prey  to  the 
three  rapacious  and  unscrupulous  powers 
that  finally  divided  her  vast  and  fair  domain 
among  themselves.  With  truth  the  poet  sings, 
"Each  man  hath  a  country,  but  the  Pole  a 
grave." 

The  last  gleam  of  hope  for  Poland  as  an 
independent  country  appeared  on  her  hori- 
zon in  1791,  the  year  so  pregnant  with  great 
events  for  all  Europe.  Poland  called  herself 
a  republic,  but  she  was  really  a  kingdom, 
ruled,  as  we  have  seen,  by  a  line  of  corrupt 
kings  and  a  scarcely  less  corrupt  nobility. 
In  that  year  of  turmoil  and  the  assertion  of 
popular  rights  throughout  the  world,  a  better 
spirit  seemed  to  come  to  the  Polish  leaders. 
Even  the  weak  Saxon  king,  Stanislaus,  who 

75 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

was  then  on  the  throne,  showed  signs  of  a 
more  unselfish  spirit.  A  new  constitution, 
based  largely  on  that  of  the  United  States, 
the  young  power  which  was  just  emerging 
into  prominence  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  was  adopted  by  the  Diet.  It  was 
somewhat  vague,  to  be  sure,  and  not  free 
from  the  rhodomontade  of  the  age;  and  those 
who  have  studied  it  critically  declared  that 
it  contained  a  "joker,"  which  still  deprived 
the  peasants  of  their  rights.  But  it  was  an 
advance  on  anything  in  the  past,  and  hope 
sprang  up  once  more  in  the  hearts  of  the 
patriotic  Poles. 

But  Prussia  and  Russia  objected  to  this 
new  constitution,  with  its  professions  of 
"liberty,  equality,  fraternity,"  and  deliber- 
ately decreed  the  division  of  unhappy  Poland 
between  themselves,  and  sent  their  armies 
to  enforce  the  decree.  Austria  at  this  time 
had  troubles  of  her  own,  chiefly  with  France, 
and  was  disregarded  as  a  negligible  quantity 
in  this  first  rape  of  the  republic. 

Then  the  candle  of  Liberty  flamed  up  in 
its  socket.  The  people,  maddened  by  this 

76 


The  People  without  a  Country 

cold-blooded  disruption  of  their  beloved  land, 
rose  in  arms  against  their  enemies,  under  the 
renowned  Thaddeus  Kosciuszko,  who  is  not 
only  a  Polish  but  a  world's  hero.  He  won  a 
brilliant  victory  at  Warsaw,  and  compelled 
the  Russian  troops  in  1793  to  abandon  the 
siege.  But  his  triumph  was  short-lived,  for 
the  following  year  he  was  defeated  and  taken 
prisoner  by  the  Russians,  and  Poland's 
struggle  for  freedom  was  over. 

Kosciuszko's  story  is  of  special  interest  to 
Americans,  for  he  loved  our  country  and 
fought  for  her  liberties.  Very  early  in  the 
War  of  the  Revolution  he  sailed  for  America, 
and  threw  in  his  lot  with  the  struggling  col- 
onists. He  rose  to  be  a  brigadier-general, 
distinguished  himself  at  the  battles  of  Yellow 
Springs  and  Saratoga,  and  was  afterwards 
governor  of  the  Military  Academy  at  West 
Point.  After  his  defeat  at  Warsaw  and  his 
release  from  a  Russian  prison,  he  lived  again 
in  the  United  States.  Later  he  declined  many 
positions  of  honor,  even  from  the  Russians,  his 
former  enemies,  and  he  died  in  Switzerland 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  his  last 

77 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

heroic  effort  to  deliver  his  beloved  country 
from  the  despoilers.  His  devotion,  self-sacri- 
fice, and  unselfish  patriotism,  however,  were 
not  in  vain.  His  name  is  the  synonym  for 
patriotism  the  world  around,  and  Campbell's 
eulogy  is  not  yet  forgotten,  though  perhaps 
it  is  too  much  to  say  that  now,  as  fifty  years 
ago,  every  American  schoolboy  knows  that 

"  Freedom  shrieked  as  Kosciusko  fell." 

The  story  of  the  succeeding  century  of 
Polish  history  is  heart-breaking  to  the  lovers 
of  liberty.  Her  aspirations  for  freedom  have 
never  been  quenched,  though  continually 
thwarted.  A  people  who  can  keep  alive 
within  their  hearts,  under  such  awful  disas- 
ters, the  love  of  liberty  and  equality,  and 
never  allow  the  flame  of  patriotism  to  be 
wholly  extinguished,  have  in  them  qualities 
which  should  make  them  welcome  to  our 
shores,  for  they  have  the  true  spirit  of  Amer- 
icanism. 

In  the  heroic  days  of  Napoleon  I,  the  Poles 
sided  with  the  great  general,  and  long  hoped 
that  he  would  deliver  them  from  bondage. 


The  People  without  a  Country 

But  he,  selfish  in  this  as  in  all  things,  did 
not  deem  it  to  be  to  his  advantage  to  do  so, 
and  turned  the  cold  shoulder  on  them,  even 
though  the  Poles  furnished  sixty  thousand 
soldiers  for  his  fatal  expedition  to  Russia. 

In  1830,  and  again  in  1860,  Poland  made 
other  futile  struggles  for  freedom,  which, 
though  marked  by  desperate  valor  on  the 
part  of  individuals,  only  served  to  rivet  the 
chains  of  their  conquerors  more  firmly.  Aus- 
tria had  become  one  of  the  trio  of  despoilers 
of  Poland  by  this  time,  and  now  rules  about 
one  quarter  of  the  ancient  kingdom.  Prussia 
owns  another  quarter,  while  Russia  retains  a 
generous  (or  ungenerous)  half. 

In  Russia  the  Poles  enjoy  much  economic 
prosperity,  and  Warsaw,  Lodz,  and  other 
manufacturing  towns  are  wealthy  and  pro- 
sperous, but  the  liberties  of  the  people  are 
sadly  shackled.  Being  Slavs,  like  themselves, 
the  Russians  seem  to  have  a  fellow-feeling 
for  this  subject  race,  which  the  other  nations 
lack.  "The  Russian,"  it  is  said,  "  alternately 
caresses  and  punishes  his  Polish  brother." 

In  Prussia  the  Pole  is  systematically  Ger- 
79 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

manized.  He  is  not  abused  and  maltreated 
so  that  the  other  powers  are  led  to  interfere, 
but  his  language,  his  ancient  customs,  the 
very  spirit  of  his  national  life,  is  denied  him, 
and  he  is  losing  his  individuality  more  rap- 
idly than  in  the  neighboring  lands. 

In  Austria  he  retains  his  language,  and  has 
a  voice  in  the  local  government.  He  is  the 
ruling  factor  in  Galicia,  but  Galicia  is  poor, 
and  much  of  it  sterile,  and  his  economic 
position  there  is  probably  worse  than  in  the 
other  lands. 

From  the  boundaries  of  these  three  coun- 
tries comes  a  constant  stream  of  emigrants 
to  America.  May  they  find  under  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  the  freedom  of  which  they  have 
so  long  dreamed,  and  for  which  they  have 
fought  so  bravely! 


V 

SOME   POLISH   WRITERS 

The  Prince  of  Historical  Novelists  —  Mickiewicz,  Poland's 
Greatest  Poet  —  Anton  Malczewski  and  his  Writings  —  A 
Polish  Tolstoy  —  His  Simplicity  and  Eccentricities — Kras- 
zewski  and  his  Many  Novels. 

IT  does  not  come  within  the  scope  of  this 
book  to  describe  at  length  the  literature  or 
social  life  of  Poland.  It  would  require  many 
volumes  larger  than  this  to  do  justice  to 
these  themes.  But  they  should  not  be  en- 
tirely overlooked,  for  they  have  a  bearing 
upon  the  life  of  America's  Polish  citizens, 
and  we  cannot  fully  understand  them  if  we 
ignore  these  sides  of  their  national  life. 

The  literary  proclivities  of  educated  Poles 
have  always  been  marked.  They  honor  their 
men  of  letters,  and  set  up  beautiful  monu- 
ments to  them  in  their  market-places.  One 
of  the  most  popular  novelists  of  modern 
times  is  Sienkiewicz.  Indeed,  he  is  the  prince 
of  the  historical  school  of  novelists.  Few 
have  approached  him  in  vividness  of  descrip- 

Si 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

tion  or  in  thrilling  narrative,  and  the  tone  of 
his  writings  is  noble  and  exalted,  and  often 
profoundly  religious. 

The  greatest  poet  of  Poland  is  Mickiewicz, 
who,  though  living  in  Poland's  darkest  day, 
has  left  imperishable  pictures  of  Polish  life 
and  manners.  He  has  been  declared  the 
equal  of  Wordsworth  or  Shelley  in  his  de- 
scription of  natural  scenery. 

I  will  quote  some  lines  translated  from  an- 
other lesser-known  poet,  Anton  Malczewski, 
who  died  when  he  was  only  thirty-three,  and 
whose  verses  became  immensely  popular 
after  his  death :  — 

"  Cossack  on  thy  flying  steed,  whither  art  thou  bound- 
ing? 

Is 't  the  fleet  hare  thou  wilt  catch  on  the  steppe  sur- 
rounding ? 

Or  dost  in  thy  fancy  taste  liberty  the  sweetest  ? 

Or  wouldst  try  the  Ukraine  winds  which  of  you  is 
fleetest? 

Maybe  thou  dost  soothe  thy  soul  with  that  song's  sad 
cadence, 

Thinking  of  thy  far-off  love,  comeliest  of  maidens. 

O'er  thy  brow  the  cap  is  pressed,  slackened  is  the 
bridle ; 

Clouds  of  dust  along  thy  path  show  thy  course  not  idle. 

82 


Some  Polish  Writers 

Lo  !  that  sunburnt  face  of  thine  with  what  ardor  glow- 
ing ! 

How  thine  eyes  enraptured  shine,  joy  its  sparkles 
throwing ; 

Thy  wild  steed  obeys  like  thee ;  then  fleet  as  the  swal- 
low, 

With  his  eager  neck  outstretched,  leaves  the  wind  to 
follow. 

Out !  poor  peasant,  from  the  road,  lest  a  woe  betide 
thee; 

Lest  the  courier  spill  thy  goods,  yea  !  and  override  thee. 

And  thou  dark  bird  of  the  sky  everything  that  greetest, 

Tho'  around  thou  wheePst  thy  flight,  man  and  steed 
are  fleetest. 

Croak  thou  may'st,  but  croak'st  in  vain,  of  ill-luck 
the  prophet ; 

Hide  thy  secret  —  for  he 's  gone  —  thou  'It  tell  nothing 
of  it. 

On  lit  by  the  setting  sun ;  onward  ever  driven ; 

Like  some  messenger  he  seems,  sent  to  men  from 
heaven. 

You  may  hear  his  horse's  hoof  echo  half  a  mile  hence ; 

Over  all  that  mighty  steppe  lies  a  brooding  silence. 

Never  merry  sound  of  knight  nor  of  squire  careering, 

Sad  wind  whispering  in  the  wheat,  that  is  all  you  're 
hearing. 

In  among  the  grass  of  graves,  wizard  voices  sighing 

Where  with  wither'd  wreaths  the  brave  all  unreck'd 
are  lying. 

'T  is  a  music  wild  and  sweet,  voice  of  Polish  nation, 

Which  preserves  her  memory  fond  for  each  generation. 

83 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

Only  from  the  wild  flowers  now  they  their  splendor 

borrow ; 
Ah !  what  heart  that  knows  their  fate,  feels  no  pang 

of  sorrow !  " 

Lelewel  was  another  interesting  character 
of  Poland  of  the  nineteenth  century.  His 
works  on  history,  ancient  geography,  and 
numismatics  were  recognized  in  many  lands. 
He  seems  to  have  been  a  sort  of  Polish  Tol- 
stoy, living  in  the  style  of  the  poorest  arti- 
sans, though  he  was  honored  and  revered 
throughout  his  own  and  other  countries.  He 
was  librarian  of  the  University  of  Warsaw, 
and  afterwards  a  Professor  in  Wilno;  but 
political  troubles  drove  him  to  Brussels, 
where  he  lived  for  nearly  a  generation  in 
voluntary  poverty,  being  willing  to  take 
only  a  franc  a  day  for  his  work  when  en- 
gaged by  the  city  of  Brussels  to  catalogue 
and  arrange  the  very  valuable  collection  of 
coins  belonging  to  the  city,  a  work  which 
only  a  specialist  like  himself  could  accom- 
plish. 

The  following  account  of  Lelewel's  sim- 
plicity and  eccentricity  is  entertaining:  — 


Some  Polish  Writers 

He  lived  worse  than  the  poorest  Brussels  artisan, 
but  would  never  receive  any  contribution  from  his 
richer  countrymen.  As  he  sat  in  the  winter  in  a 
room  that  could  not  be  warmed,  a  Polish  lady  during 
his  absence  caused  a  stove  to  be  put  in ;  but  when  he 
came  back,  he  turned  it  out  of  the  room  —  just  as 
Dr.  Johnson  did  with  the  shoes  which  had  been 
given  him  —  and  only  at  last  allowed  a  pipe  to  be 
introduced  into  his  own  from  a  neighboring  room, 
which  was  well  warmed.  He  frequently,  however, 
opened  the  windows  during  the  severest  frost.  Cof- 
fee was  a  great  refreshment  to  him,  but  he  enjoyed 
it  only  once  a  week ;  on  other  days  he  breakfasted  on 
bread  and  milk.  When  Poles  who  visited  him  en- 
titled him  "Your  Excellency,"  as  he  had  formerly 
been  a  minister,  he  forbade  it,  and  would  not  allow 
himself  to  be  called  "Mr."  but  only  "Citizen." 
During  the  morning  hours  he  sat  at  his  work  with 
bare  feet  in  felt  shoes  and  in  an  old  gray  cloak,  with 
a  pocket-handkerchief,  which  had  at  one  time  been 
white,  but  had  now  become  brown,  pinned  to  his 
knees.  This  he  wished  to  have  conveniently  at 
hand,  as  he  was  a  great  snuff-taker.  His  linen,  how- 
ever, was  always  very  clean.  At  midday  he  went 
dressed  in  a  blue  workman's  blouse  to  a  poor  little 
public-house  to  get  a  humble  meal  among  the  arti- 
sans who  frequented  it. 

Many  Polish  authors  have  done  excellent 
work  along  lines  of  historical  research,  and 
her  novelists  are  by  no  means  least  among 
85 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

the  world  writers  of  fiction.  It  is  needless  to 
tell  American  readers  of  the  vigor  and  deep 
interest  of  Sienkiewicz's  historical  novels,  to 
which  I  have  before  alluded,  but  they  are 
not  so  well  acquainted  with  the  works  of 
Kraszewski,  who  also  wrote  many  historical 
novels.  When  he  had  been  in  the  field  of 
authorship  for  fifty  years,  his  published  works 
of  all  kinds  reached  the  amazing  number  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  titles. 

It  is  evident  that  our  Polish  citizens  in 
America  come  from  a  land  where  literature 
is  honored  and  cultivated,  and  we  may  well 
believe  that  in  the  future  they  will  add  not 
a  little  to  the  value  of  the  literary  output  of 
America. 


VI 

POLISH     COUNTRY    LIFE    IN    ANCIENT    DAYS 

Picturesque  Poland  — The  Gulf  between  Rulers  and  Ruled 

—  What  constituted  a  Noble  —  Hauteville's  Racy  Account  of 
the  Habits  of  the  Nobles  —  Doings  in  the  Banqueting-Hall — 
Free  Peasants  and  how  they  were  stripped  of  their  Freedom 

—  The   Hard  Lot  of   the  Peasants  — The  Ancient  Inns  of 
Poland  — The  Polish  Jew. 

LIFE  in  the  cities  to-day  tends  to  uniform- 
ity the  world  around.  As  the  frock  coat  and 
evening  dress  reduce  mankind  to  a  dull  uni- 
formity, so  all  modern  life  tends  to  sameness 
and  monotony.  Educated  men  are  much  the 
same  in  all  lands.  Professional  men  have  the 
same  earmarks  in  Poland  as  in  America.  In 
the  country  districts,  to  be  sure,  one  finds 
more  variety  of  costume  and  custom,  but  even 
here  Paris  fashions  are  creeping  in,  though 
perhaps  a  year  behind  the  times.  To  find 
what  is  most  picturesque  in  the  social  cus- 
toms of  Poland,  one  must  go  back  a  century 
or  more. 

The  people  of  unhappy  Poland  were  di- 
87 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

vided  into  two  great  classes,  the  nobles  and 
the  peasants;  and  it  was  largely  because  of 
the  overbearing  domination  of  the  former 
and  the  pitiful  serfdom  of  the  latter,  without 
any  great  middle  class  between,  that  the 
downfall  of  Poland  was  so  complete.  Be- 
cause of  the  great  fixed  gulf  between  the 
rulers  and  the  ruled,  Poland  has  been  swept 
off  the  map  of  the  world. 

A  noble  was  a  man  who  possessed  land, 
or  whose  ancestors  had  possessed  land.  He 
might  be  as  poor  as  poverty,  and,  barefooted, 
drive  his  one  hired  horse  before  his  plough, 
but  he  was  still  a  noble  and  had  a  right  to 
wear  a  sword,  though  it  might  be  a  rusty 
one  and  tied  by  a  string  to  his  girdle.  But 
he  must  not  learn  a  trade  or  engage  in  busi- 
ness, or  he  would  lose  his  patent  of  nobility. 
This  threw  the  business  of  the  country  into 
the  hands  of  the  Jews,  who  fattened  on  the 
foolishness  of  the  nobility  and  the  necessities 
of  the  peasants. 

A  French  writer,  Hauteville,  gives  us  a 
racy  and  amusing  account  of  the  habits  of 
the  nobles  two  hundred  years  ago,  when 

88 


Polish  Life  in  Ancient  Days 

Poland  was  still  a  very  considerable  factor 
among  the  nations  of  the  world.  He  writes : — 

When  the  Polanders  make  a  feast,  all  the  guests 
who  are  invited  must  bring  a  knife,  fork,  and  spoon 
along  with  them,  because  it  is  not  a  custom  to  lay 
any  of  these  utensils  upon  the  table ;  they  sew  a  piece 
of  linen  round  the  tablecloth,  which  serves  for  nap- 
kins. After  all  the  guests  are  come,  the  gates  are 
shut  and  not  opened  till  all  the  company  are  risen 
from  the  table  and  all  the  plate  is  found ;  for  if  they 
did  not  use  this  precaution,  the  footmen  would  steal 
part  of  it ;  and  this  is  also  the  reason  why  they  lay 
neither  knives,  spoons,  forks,  nor  napkins  upon  the 
table.  Every  person  of  quality  has  a  hall  in  his 
house,  which  they  call  the  banqueting-hall,  in  which 
there  is  a  place  for  a  side-table,  surrounded  with 
balusters.  This  side-table,  from  which  the  cloth  is 
never  taken  off  till  it  is  very  dirty,  is  covered  with 
abundance  of  plate,  and  over  it  is  a  place  for  the 
music,  which  is  usually  composed  of  violins  and 
organs.  Those  who  are  invited  to  the  feast  bring 
their  footmen  with  them,  and  as  soon  as  they  are 
seated  at  the  table,  every  one  of  them  cuts  off  one 
half  of  his  bread,  which  he  gives  with  a  plate  full  of 
meat  to  his  servant,  who,  after  he  has  shared  it  with 
his  comrade,  stands  behind  his  master  and  eats  it. 
If  the  master  calls  twice  for  a  glass  of  wine  or  other 
liquor,  the  servant  brings  as  much  more,  and  drinks 
in  the  same  glass  with  his  master  without  rinsing  it. 
Though  there  is  a  great  deal  of  meat  brought  to  the 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

table,  there  is  nothing  carried  back  to  the  kitchen, 
not  even  of  the  last  course;  for  the  servants  seize 
upon  all  the  meat,  and  their  ladies  make  each  of 
them  carry  a  napkin  to  bring  away  the  dry  sweet- 
meats or  fruits  that  are  brought  to  the  table. 

This  seems  to  be  not  unlike  the  modern 
Japanese  custom,  where  it  is  polite  to  wrap 
up  in  a  paper  napkin  the  fruit  and  sweet- 
meats you  do  not  eat,  tuck  them  into  your 
wide  sleeve,  if  you  wear  a  Japanese  costume, 
and  take  them  home  with  you. 

In  the  earlier  and  happier  days  of  Poland, 
one  class  of  so-called  free  peasants  had  some 
rights,  but  gradually  these  were  taken  away, 
and  with  the  lower  class  of  peasants  all  prac- 
tically became  slaves  of  the  nobles,  who 
had  a  right  to  all  of  their  labor  and  even 
to  their  lives;  for  if  a  noble  killed  a  peas- 
ant, his  punishment  was  only  a  nominal 
fine. 

No  peasant  could  own  a  foot  of  land.  He 
could  not  change  his  home  or  leave  his 
owner's  estate.  He  was  bound  body  and  soul 
to  his  master.  No  wonder  that  under  such  a 
system,  the  life-blood  of  the  nation  gradually 

90 


Polish  Life  in  Ancient  Days 

grew  thin  and  weak.  It  was  as  bad  for  the 
nobles  as  for  the  serfs  in  the  end. 

In  another  chapter  has  been  described  the 
elegance  and  luxury  of  the  Polish  nobles 
who  went  as  a  deputation  to  Paris  to  invite 
Henry  of  Valois  to  become  their  king.  Con- 
trast this  with  the  condition  of  the  Polish 
peasants,  as  described  shortly  before  this  by 
the  French  author  I  have  before  quoted :  — 

The  furniture  of  their  houses  consists  of  some 
earthen  or  wooden  dishes,  and  a  bed  which  they 
make  of  chaff  or  feathers,  with  a  sort  of  coverlet 
over  it.  Their  stoves  have  no  chimney  to  let  out  the 
smoke,  which  has  no  other  passage  but  a  small  win- 
dow about  four  feet  from  the  ground.  When  they  go 
into  their  cottages  they  are  forced  to  stoop  that  they 
may  not  be  stifled  with  the  smoke,  which  is  so  thick 
above  the  little  window  that  one  cannot  see  the  roof, 
and  yet  't  is  impossible  to  go  to  bed  in  the  winter 
without  stoves. 

There  are  no  inns  in  Poland  where  one  may  lodge 
conveniently  and  be  accommodated  with  a  bed. 
The  only  houses  of  entertainment  are  places  built  of 
wood,  which  they  call  karczma,  where  travelers  are 
obliged  to  lodge  with  the  horses,  cows,  and  hogs  in  a 
long  stable  made  of  boards,  ill- joined,  and  thatched 
with  straw.  'T  is  true  that  there  is  a  chamber  at  the 
end  of  it  with  a  stove,  but 't  is  impossible  for  one  to 

9' 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

lodge  in  it  in  the  summer,  for  they  never  open  the  win- 
dows even  in  the  hottest  weather;  so  that  strangers 
choose  rather  to  lie  in  the  stables  in  the  summer 
than  in  the  chamber.  And,  besides,  the  gospodarz, 
or  innkeeper,  lodges  in  that  room  with  his  children 
and  whole  family.  Those  who  have  occasion  to 
travel  in  the  summer  may  avoid  part  of  these  in- 
conveniences by  lying  in  a  barn  on  fresh  straw ;  for 
the  gospodarz  gathers  and  locks  up  every  morning 
the  straw  which  was  given  at  night  to  those  who 
lodged  in  the  stable  or  chamber,  in  order  to  reserve 
it  for  those  who  shall  come  to  lodge  after  them. 

It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that 
Poland  was  not  the  only  country  where  the 
peasantry  lived  in  what  would  seem  to  us 
the  depths  of  destitution.  It  is  doubtful  if 
the  condition  of  the  English  peasantry  in  the 
seventeenth  century  was  much  better,  or 
the  lodging-houses  much  more  comfortable. 
Certainly  many  peasants'  houses  in  Ireland, 
even  down  to  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, were  little  better,  though  recent  reforms 
have  for  the  most  part  greatly  improved  them. 

The  Jews  were  never  a  negligible  quan- 
tity in  Poland,  having  entered  the  country 
in  the  early  years  of  its  history.  They  have 
held  the  trade  and  commerce  in  their  grasp 

92 


Polish  Life  in  Ancient  Days 

during  all  these  centuries.  The  peasants 
easily  become  victims  to  their  commercial 
shrewdness,  and  get  head  over  ears  in  debt 
to  them,  mortgaging  lands  and  houses  to 
obtain  the  means  of  subsistence.  This  has 
made  them  hated  by  high  and  low  alike.  In 
the  early  days  they  were  outcasts,  and  were 
obliged  to  wear  yellow  caps  to  show  their 
nationality.  In  these  days,  though  they  are 
allowed  to  discard  their  yellow  caps,  they 
make  themselves  no  less  conspicuous  by  the 
long  corkscrew  curls  that  hang  down  in 
front  of  either  ear,  and  their  long  coats 
which  come  down  to  their  heels.  At  least 
this  is  true  in  Austrian  Poland,  with  which 
this  book  has  chiefly  to  do,  and  a  Jew  in 
Galicia  is  as  unmistakable  as  though  he 
wore  a  placard  on  his  forehead,  proclaiming, 
"  I  am  a  Jew."  At  every  railway  station  you 
see  him,  and  in  the  towns  you  find  him  en- 
gaged in  all  sorts  of  business,  from  a  push- 
cart enterprise  to  a  big  department  store,  but 
you  never  see  him  following  the  plough  or 
employed  in  the  factory.  In  Russian  Poland 
he  has  had  to  discard  his  curls,  as  they  were 

93 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

forbidden  by  the  decree  of  Nicholas  I,  but 
he  clings  to  his  long  coat,  his  "Jewish  gaber- 
dine," which  almost  sweeps  the  ground.  No 
wonder  that,  ostracized,  hated,  spit  upon,  he 
seeks  a  new  and  more  congenial  home  in 
America. 


VII 

THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

Their  Hereditary  Rights  in  America  —  Zabriskie,  Sodow- 
sky,  and  Pulaski  —  Pioneers  of  Texas  — The  Poles  in  the 
Connecticut  Valley  —  One  Person  in  Every  Twenty-two  in 
America  a  Pole  —  In  Michigan  Every  Eighth  Person  a 
Pole  —  A  People  to  be  reckoned  with. 

THE  Poles  may  be  considered  to  have  a 
hereditary  right  in  America,  since  it  is  stated 
on  credible  authority  that  a  Pole,  John  of 
Kolno,  discovered  the  coast  of  Labrador  in 
1476,  sixteen  years  before  Columbus  made 
his  memorable  voyage.  Not  many  years 
after  the  Pilgrims  landed  in  Plymouth  and 
the  Cavaliers  in  Virginia,  a  distinguished 
Pole  settled  in  New  Jersey,  and  founded  the 
well-known  and ,  numerous  Zabriskie  fam- 
ily, whose  descendants  have  shed  lustre  on 
American  annals.  One  member  of  this  fam- 
ily was  a  chancellor  of  New  Jersey,  another 
was  Dean  of  Harvard  College,  while  their 
blood,  it  is  said,  "  also  runs  in  the~veins  of 
such  distinguished  families  as  that  of  Gou- 

95 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

verneur  Morris,  the  Bayards,  Jays,  Astors, 
and  others."  Other  Poles  were  pioneers  in 
Manhattan,  in  Kentucky,  and  on  the  Missis- 
sippi. It  is  even  said  that  Jacob  Sodowsky 
made  a  long  voyage  down  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  until  he  reached  New  Orleans, 
being  one  of  the  first  white  men  to  make 
this  adventurous  journey.  Some  claim  that 
Sandusky,  Ohio,  is  but  a  corruption  from  the 
name  of  Jacob  Sodowsky. 

The  Poles  sympathized  with  America  in 
her  revolutionary  struggle  and,  as  we  have 
seen,  sent  their  greatest  hero,  Kosciuszko, 
to  fight  our  battles  as  a  friend  and  aide  of 
General  Washington.  Pulaski  was  another 
Polish  revolutionary  hero  who  has  left  his 
name  on  the  map  of  America,  and  still  an- 
other was  Niemcewicz,  who  wrote  a  valu- 
able biography  of  General  Washington. 

The  Polish  revolution  of  1831  sent  another 
contingent  of  exiled  patriots  to  America, 
and  Miss  Balch  quotes  the  reminiscence  of 
a  lady  who  lived  in  Troy,  New  York,  in 
the  early  thirties,  and  who  remembers  see- 
ing there  "a  group  of  Polish  gentlemen, 


The  Poles  in  America 

ragged,  but  obviously  aristocrats,  working  at 
the  cobbled  pavement  of  the  streets  with 
bleeding  fingers.  A  few  days  later,  one  of 
these  men  looked  at  his  fingers,  drew  out  a 
pistol,  and  shot  himself." 

The  Poles,  too,  were  among  the  pioneers 
of  Texas,  and  they  have  hard  tales  to  tell 
of  the  original  Texans  who  "would  take  a 
man  out  and  beat  him  just  for  the  fun  of  it." 
"Several  times,"  we  are  also  told,  "a  Pole 
bought  a  horse,  and  in  the  night  it  was  stolen 
from  him  by  the  man  who  had  sold  it."  Yet 
in  spite  of  these  .early  tribulations,  the  immi- 
grants flourished,  and  many  colonies  were 
established  in  the  Lone  Star  State. 

Many  Poles  reached  the  Connecticut  Val- 
ley, also,  in  the  comparatively  early  days  of 
emigration,  and  were  esteemed  faithful,  hon- 
est, and  industrious  laborers.  The  testimony 
of  a  New  England  farmer  who  employed 
many  Poles  and  brought  many  others  from 
New  York  to  work  for  his  neighbors  is  worth 
quoting:  "They  make  good  citizens.  Almost 
without  exception  they  are  Roman  Catholics, 
and  faithful  to  their  obligations.  They  are 

97 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

willing  to  pay  the  price  to  succeed.  That 
price  is  to  work  hard  and  save." 

In  their  Galician  homes  the  vast  majority 
of  them  are  farmers  or  farm-laborers,  and 
they  do  not  lose  their  love  of  the  soil  when 
they  reach  America,  though  many  of  them, 
unfortunately,  especially  the  Jews,  congre- 
gate in  the  cities. 

That  the  Polish  contingent  of  American 
citizens  is  no  mean  factor  is  evident  from 
the  fact  that  in  1908  it  was  estimated  that 
there  were,  as  I  have  said,  four  millions  of 
men,  women,  and  children  of  Polish  ancestry 
in  the  United  States;  that  is,  one  person  in 
every  twenty-two  whom  you  may  meet  on 
the  street  has  Polish  blood  in  his  veins.  Most 
of  them  are  late  arrivals,  or  the  children  of 
late  arrivals,  for  the  great  exodus  from  Po- 
land to  America  did  not  set  in  until  about 
1890. 

In  Pennsylvania  one  person  in  twelve  is  a 
Pole,  in  New  York  about  one  in  fourteen, 
in  Massachusetts  about  one  in  ten.  In  Wis- 
consin and  Michigan  every  eighth  person  is 
a  Pole.  These  facts  are  enough  to  convince 

98 


The  Poles  in  America 

us  that  they  are  "  a  people  to  be  reckoned 
with,"  and  should  make  Poland's  history, 
her  literature,  and  the  habits  and  customs  of 
her  people  of  exceeding  interest  to  every 
thoughtful  American. 


VIII 

OUR   RUTHENIAN   NEIGHBORS    AND   THEIR 
OLD    HOMES 

Their  Many  National  Names— Not  a  Negligible  Race— A 
Story  of  Oppression  and  Uprisings  —  Their  Illiteracy  —  Their 
Religion  —  Their  Priests  and  their  Churches  —  Their  Ances- 
tral Love  of  Freedom  —  Their  Folk-Songs  —  The  First  Ru- 
thenian  Emigrant  to  America  —  How  Emigrants  escape  from 
their  Old  Home  —  The  Ruthenians  and  the  American  Dollar 
—  Lemberg,  the  Capital  of  Galicia  —  How  the  Ruthenians 
show  their  Colors  —  A  Ruthenian's  Tribute  to  Canada. 

FROM  the  same  part  of  Austria,  namely, 
Galicia,  that  sends  to  America  so  many 
Poles,  comes  another  Slavic  race,  the  Ru- 
thenians, who  also  seem  destined  to  have 
no  small  part  in  shaping  the  future  destinies 
of  America.  They  are  called  by  various 
names,  Little  Russians,  Russniaks,  Russini- 
ans,  etc.,  but  the  name  given  to  them  in  Ga- 
licia, from  which  province  the  vast  majority 
who  are  now  in  America  have  come,  is  Ru- 
thenians. They  are  by  no  means  a  negligible 
race,  for  they  cover  a  large  section  of  Russia, 
and  spill  over  into  Austria  and  Hungary, 
numbering  some  thirty  millions  in  all.  In- 
100 


Our  Ruthenian 

deed,  there  are  probably  three  times  as  many 
Ruthenian  as  Greek-speaking  people  in  the 
world,  and  almost  as  many  as  there  are  who 
call  Italian  their  mother  tongue. 

For  some  reason  the  Ruthenians  of  Russia, 
or  Little  Russians,  have  not  yet  begun  to  come 
to  our  shores  in  large  numbers,  but  there  is 
a  constantly  swelling  tide  of  Austrian  Ru- 
thenians crossing  the  Atlantic  to  the  United 
States  and  Canada,  more  than  twenty-six 
thousand  having  come  in  the  year  ending 
June,  1912. 

They  can  point  to  no  such  splendid  ancient 
history  as  can  the  Poles  and  Bohemians,  yet 
at  one  time  they  dominated  all  southern 
Russia,  and  they  have  always  been  a  liberty- 
loving  people.  The  blood  of  freedom  has 
always  tingled  in  their  veins,  and  their  novel- 
ists and  poets,  of  whom  they  can  boast  not  a 
few,  have  made  this  their  constant  theme. 
The  story  of  Mazeppa,  as  told  by  Byron,  is 
characteristic  of  Ruthenian  life  at  its  best, 
life  on  the  free,  broad  prairies,  the  life  of  the 
horseman  on  his  swift  charger.  But  they  have 
been  horribly  oppressed  at  times  by  stronger 

IOI 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

powers,  and  in  spite  of  frequent  uprisings  were 
for  centuries  in  cruel  bondage.  This  has  made 
the  peasantry  poor  and  illiterate,  and  the  pro- 
portion of  emigrants  who  can  neither  read 
nor  write  is  larger  than  from  almost  any 
European  country,  except  southern  Italy  and 
Portugal.  The  schoolmaster  is  coming  into 
his  own,  however,  among  the  Ruthenians, 
and  while  among  the  old  people  eighty  per 
cent  are  illiterate,  of  the  boys  between  ten 
and  twenty  only  thirty-seven  per  cent  cannot 
read  and  write.  Their  ignorance  has  not  been 
their  own  fault.  Galicia  is  a  poor  country,  with 
few  manufactures  and  a  comparatively  sterile 
soil.  The  Government  in  the  past  has  pro- 
vided poor  schools,  and  for  many  villages 
none  at  all,  so  that  sometimes  a  number  of 
peasants  have  been  obliged  to  band  together 
and  hire  a  private  teacher  that  their  children 
might  not  grow  up  in  total  ignorance. 

Religiously,  like  the  people  who  live  in 
Great  Russia,  the  Little  Russians  are  very 
devout,  and  in  their  churches  one  will  see 
them  bowing  reverently  before  their  icons  or 
embossed  pictures  of  Christ  or  the  saints, 

102 


Our  Ruthenian  Neighbors 

their  hair  sweeping  the  ground,  after  they 
have  kissed  the  picture  with  passionate  ear- 
nestness. In  Austria  the  Ruthenians,  though 
having  the  peculiar  forms  and  ceremonies  of 
the  Greek  Orthodox  Church,  owe  allegiance 
to  the  Pope  of  Rome.  Yet  about  the  only  dif- 
ference between  their  service  and  that  of  the 
Great  Russians  is  that  they  pray  for  the  Pope 
rather  than  for  Emperor  Nicholas.  Their 
priests  are  married  like  the  Russian  priests, 
and  their  cross  has  three  transverse  pieces 
like  the  Russian,  instead  of  one  like  the  Latin 
cross.  By  this  peculiar  shape  of  the  cross, 
the  many  Ruthenian  churches  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada  may  be  distinguished,  as 
well  as  by  the  icons,  where  the  sacred  pic- 
tures are  usually  covered  with  metal  of  some 
sort,  gold  or  silver  or  some  baser  metal,  ex- 
cept the  face  and  hands  of  the  saints,  which 
appear  as  if  in  an  embossed  frame.  They  do 
not  allow  an  organ  in  their  churches,  but  the 
deep,  mellow  voices  of  the  male  choirs  more 
than  compensate  for  its  absence. 

The  Ruthenians  are  among  the  poorest  of 
the  peasants  who  come  to  America,  their 
103 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

holdings  of  land  in  Galicia  being  very  small 
and  not  always  of  the  first  quality.  But  though 
poor,  and  many  of  them  illiterate,  they  are 
not  by  any  means  the  least  desirable  of  the 
peoples  who  are  swarming  to  our  shores. 
They  have  not  lost  their  ancestral  love  of 
freedom.  They  are  willing  to  work,  and  they 
are  not  a  people  lacking  in  literary  apprecia- 
tion and  ability.  Their  multifarious  folk- 
songs show  this.  One  collector,  we  are  told, 
has  found  no  less  than  eight  thousand  such 
songs  in  a  single  district  The  printing-press 
was  very  early  set  up  in  their  cities,  even 
before  it  was  in  use  in  England,  and  stirring 
and  dramatic  novels  and  poems  have  come 
from  their  press  for  centuries  past. 

Miss  Balch  tells  an  interesting  story  of  the 
first  Ruthenian  emigrant  to  America.  He 
came  in  the  year  1878.  This  Ruthenian,  who 
lived  in  Radocyna,  had  a  Polish  neighbor 
who  emigrated  to  the  new  world,  whither 
many  Poles  had  already  gone.  He  promised 
to  write  back  to  his  Ruthenian  friend  if  he 
found  America  a  good  place  to  live  in,  and 
if  he  considered  it  desirable  for  his  friend  to 
104 


Our  Ruthenian  Neighbors 

emigrate.  But  the  government  at  that  time 
tried  to  discourage  emigration.  It  printed  all 
sorts  of  unfavorable  news  about  America, 
and  even  opened  and  suppressed  private 
letters  that  gave  too  rosy  an  account  of  the 
new  land.  So  the  Polish  friend,  fearing  his 
letter  would  be  intercepted,  agreed  to  prick 
the  letter  through  with  a  pin  if  he  did  not 
find  America  equal  to  his  hopes  and  if  he  did 
not  advise  his  friend  to  leave  Galicia.  After 
a  time  the  letter  came.  It  had  no  pin-prick, 
and  the  pioneer  Ruthenian  started  for  New 
York.  But  his  troubles  had  only  just  begun. 
He  had  lost  his  friend's  address  before  he 
reached  New  York.  He  was  alone,  indeed,  in 
a  great  strange  world,  the  only  man  of  his  kind 
among  sixty  millions  of  busy  people,  who 
knew  nothing  about  him  and  cared  as  little. 
He  could  not  speak  English  or  German  or 
any  of  the  common  languages.  He  was  three 
days  without  food.  He  sat  down  and  cried 
in  the  street.  What  else  could  the  poor  man 
do  ?  Fortunately,  a  Pole  came  by,  recognized 
his  Ruthenian  clothes,  and  asked  him  if  he 
was  not  a  Ruthenian.  We  can  imagine  his 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

joy  at  seeing  a  friendly  face  and  hearing  a 
friendly,  familiar  word.  The  Pole  took  the 
Ruthenian  to  his  home,  found  work  for  him, 
and  in  six  months  he  was  able  to  send  back 
to  Galicia  for  his  wife,  and  send  her  money 
for  her  passage.  He  had  been  obliged  to  steal 
away  so  secretly  that  even  his  wife  did  not 
know  where  he  had  gone. 

But  the  first  Ruthenian  emigrant  was  not 
the  last.  By  1899  the  tide  had  swelled  to 
fourteen  hundred.  Then  there  was  a  very 
rapid  increase,  at  the  rate  of  two  or  three 
thousand  a  year,  and  since  1907  an  average 
of  more  than  twenty-five  thousand  Ruthen- 
ians  each  year  cross  the  ocean  to  try  their 
fortune  in  the  new  world.  Truly  this  adven- 
turous Galician  was  the  forerunner  of  a  great 
host,  and  no  one  can  predict  how  many  more 
may  follow  in  his  train. 

All  sorts  of  expedients,  legitimate  and  il- 
legitimate, were  adopted  by  the  Austrian 
Government  to  keep  the  people  at  home. 
Outrageous  falsehoods  were  printed  against 
America.  Indeed,  there  are  few  European 
governments  that  do  not  like  to  magnify 
106 


Our  Ruthenian  Neighbors 

America's  defects  and  minimize  her  virtues. 
But  the  Austrian  Government  of  Galicia 
went  so  far  as  to  tell  the  people  that  they 
would  die  of  hunger  in  America,  and  com- 
manded the  priests  to  proclaim  this  in  their 
pulpits,  which  the  priests  often  pluckily  re- 
fused to  do. 

Soldiers  were  stationed  at  the  frontier  to 
turn  the  emigrants  back.  Miss  Balch  gives 
two  incidents  of  the  shrewdness  and  courage 
of  the  emigrants  in  running  the  gauntlet. 
One  man,  as  he  reached  the  German  frontier, 
was  arrested  by  a  gendarme.  The  Ruthen- 
ian stopped,  as  if  to  tie  his  shoe,  picked  up  a 
handful  of  mud,  and  threw  it  in  the  gen- 
darme's face.  Blinded  by  the  mud  for  a  few 
moments,  he  did  not  see  his  wily  prisoner 
bound  across  the  line  into  Germany,  where 
he  could  not  follow  to  capture  him  and  bring 
him  back. 

Another  would-be  emigrant  bought  his 
ticket  only  to  the  last  station  on  the  Galician 
side,  in  order  to  avoid  suspicion;  but  his  wife, 
who  accompanied  him  thus  far  on  his  long 
journey,  was  so  overcome  with  grief  at  the 
107 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

thought  of  parting  from  her  husband,  and 
wept  so  copiously,  that  the  suspicion  of  the 
frontier  guards  was  aroused,  and  the  man  was 
put  under  arrest.  He  asked  permission  to  go 
back  for  his  bundle  to  the  third-class  car  he 
had  left,  and,  instead  of  getting  it,  slipped 
into  a  second-class  car,  where  the  guard  did 
not  think  of  looking  for  him,  and  thus  he  got 
safely  off  to  Bremen,  and  thence  to  America. 

The  Government,  indeed,  might  as  well 
attempt  to  stop  the  flow  of  the  Danube,  or 
like  Mrs.  Partington,  with  her  broom,  to 
sweep  back  the  Atlantic  tides,  as  permanently 
to  keep  the  people  from  going  where  they 
can  better  their  condition.  Old  neighbor 
writes  home  to  old  neighbor,  husband  sends 
for  wife,  children  send  back  for  their  parents, 
and  the  Christmas  and  New  Year's  green- 
backs, which  tell  of  prosperity  and  savings 
in  the  new  home,  beckon  the  Ruthenians 
away  from  the  old  homesteads. 

Millions  of  American  dollars  find  their 
way  to  Galicia  every  year,  and  many  are 
used  in  buying  land  for  the  peasants  when 
the  great  estates  are  broken  up,  as  they  often 

108 


Our  Ruthenian  Neighbors 

are  in  these  days.  A  number  of  peasants 
band  together  to  buy  a  tract  of  land,  putting 
in  all  the  money  they  can  command,  and 
then  coming  far  short  of  the  required  amount. 
Where  shall  they  get  the  rest  ?  Why,  from 
America,  to  be  sure.  And  so  they  apply  to 
the  neighbors  and  cousins  who  have  pro- 
spered on  the  other  side  of  the  sea,  and,  sure 
enough,  the  money  comes  back,  and  the  land 
is  bought  and  paid  for.  Because  of  this 
American  money,  some  estates  in  Galicia, 
which  could  hardly  be  given  away  forty 
years  ago,  are  in  great  demand  at  tenfold 
the  price  asked  for  them  then.  It  is  only  fair 
that  this  money  should  come  back  to  the  old 
country,  since  neighbors  and  relations  were 
and  are  most  generous  to  the  poor  emigrants, 
often  loaning  them  money  without  interest 
for  their  traveling  expenses.  The  honesty  of 
the  emigrants  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the 
money  is  always  repaid.  Many  a  girl,  we  are 
told,  goes  to  America  while  her  lover  is 
serving  his  compulsory  three  years  in  the 
army,  and  in  household  service  earns  money 
enough  for  his  passage  to  America  when  his 
109 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

term  of  service  has  expired.  This  money  he 
always  scrupulously  pays  back  to  his  fiancee, 
and  when  he  has  earned  enough  to  pay  this 
debt  and  get  a  little  ahead,  he  marries  his  true 
love.  We  may  well  believe  that  those  who 
show  such  constancy  and  such  honesty  will 
"  live  happily  ever  after." 

I  was  much  interested  when  in  Lemberg, 
the  capital  of  Galicia,  to  see  the  signs  of 
Ruthenian  enterprise  and  national  spirit. 
Though  Lemberg  is  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
Ruthenian  country,  the  city  itself  is  largely 
inhabited  by  Poles  and  Jews.  The  Poles 
dominate  the  city  politically  and  industrially, 
and  their  language  is  used  in  the  courts  and 
schools.  The  Ruthenians,  however,  show 
their  colors  on  every  possible  occasion.  On 
their  fast-days  and  national  holidays,  they 
will  march  into  Lemberg,  thousands  strong, 
from  the  country,  the  men  wearing  stovepipe 
hats,  and  the  women  the  latest  Paris  fashions, 
or  as  near  as  they  can  approach  to  them,  and 
sporting  eyeglasses  and  lorgnettes  to  show 
that  they,  too,  are  educated  people  and  even 
of  a  literary  turn,  in  spite  of  the  general  es- 

IIO 


Our  Ruthenian  Neighbors 

timation  in  which  they  are  held  by  their 
Polish  neighbors. 

One  of  the  finest  buildings  in  Lemberg  is 
the  Ruthenian  Life  Insurance  Building.  It  is 
ornamented  with  beautiful  tiles  representing 
the  colored  embroidery  and  art  needlework 
of  Ruthenian  women,  and  is  a  standing  mon- 
ument, visible  to  every  visitor,  of  the  artistic 
dexterity  of  these  women. 

As  I  have  said,  many  Ruthenian  emigrants 
go  eventually  to  Canada,  where  we  are  told 
they  prosper  more  uniformly  than  any  other 
emigrants.  Volumes  concerning  the  Ru- 
thenian love  of  liberty  and  joy  in  their  new- 
found freedom  are  told  in  the  following  ode 
to  Canada  by  Michael  Gowda,  translated 
into  vigorous  English  by  E.  W.  Thomson. 
The  poem  first  appeared  in  the  "Boston 
Transcript":  — 

"  O  free  and  fresh  —  home  Canada  !  Can  we, 

Born  far  o'er  seas,  call  thee  our  country  dear? 
I  know  not  whence  nor  how  the  right  may  be 
Attained,  through  sharing  blessings  year  by  year. 

"  We  were  not  reared  within  thy  broad  domains, 
Our  fathers'  graves  and  corpses  lie  afar ; 


in 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

They  did  not  fall  for  freedom  on  thy  plains, 
Nor  we  pour  out  our  blood  beneath  thy  star. 

"From   ancient    worlds    by  Wrong   oppressed    we 

swarmed, 

Many  as  ants,  to  scatter  on  thy  land  ; 
Each  to  the  place  you  gave,  aided,  unharmed, 
And  here  we  fear  not  kings  or  nobles  grand. 

"And  are  you  not,  O  Canada,  our  own  ? 

Nay,  we  are  still  but  holders  of  thy  soil, 
We  have  not  bought  by  sacrifice  and  groan 
The  right  to  boast  the  country  where  we  toil. 

"  But,  Canada,  in  Liberty  we  work  till  death ! 

Our  children  shall  be  free  to  call  thee  theirs, 
Their  own  dear  land,  where,  gladly  drawing  breath, 
Their  parents  found  safe  graves,  and  left  strong 
heirs, 

44  To  homes  and  native  freedom,  and  the  heart 

To  live,  and  strive,  and  die  if  need  there  be, 
In  standing  manfully  by  Honor's  part, 

To  save  the  country  that  has  made  us  free." 


IX 

WHERE    SEA    AND    MOUNTAINS    MARRY 

The  Charming  Adriatic  Coast  —  How  to  see  it  —  The  Ster- 
ile Mountains  —  A  Theatre  of  Stirring  History  —  Pola  and 
its  Arena — Diocletian's  Palace  at  Spalato  —  The  Ancient 
Republic  of  Ragusa  —  Montenegro  and  its  Brave  People  — 
Bosnia-Herzegovina — Sarajevo,  its  Capital  —  Austria's  Great 
Seaport. 

IF  my  readers  will  furbish  up  their  geo- 
graphical knowledge,  they  will  remember 
that  the  eastern  coast  of  the  Adriatic  belongs 
largely  to  Austria,  Hungary,  and  Turkey.  It 
embraces  Istria,  Dalmatia,  Albania,  and  a  few 
yards,  so  to  speak,  of  Herzegovina,  and  a 
few  more  of  the  Montenegrin  coast-line;  and 
there  is  outside  the  mainland,  at  a  longer  or 
shorter  distance,  a  fringe  of  islands,  running 
invariably  north  and  south,  while  on  the  op- 
posite Italian  shore  of  the  Adriatic  there  are 
no  islands,  and  the  wind-swept  coast  is  very 
different  from  the  safe,  island-protected  har- 
bors of  the  eastern  shore. 

Hear  that  this  is  as  far  as  the  geographical 
knowledge  of  many  of  my  readers  extends, 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

if  I  may  judge  them  by  myself,  for  until  I 
visited  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Adriatic,  it 
was  a  terra  incognita  to  me.  I  had  a  vague 
notion  of  the  facts  above  stated;  but  I  did 
not  know  of  the  magnificent  scenery,  of  the 
land-locked  fiords,  rivaling  those  of  Norway 
or  Iceland  in  beauty,  of  the  rugged  snow- 
clad  mountains,  grand  and  mighty  in  their 
very  sterility,  that  rear  their  heads  along  the 
whole  route  and  wash  their  feet  in  the  peace- 
ful Adriatic.  I  did  not  know  much  about  the 
many  ancient  cities,  full  of  the  memories  and 
monuments  of  the  Caesars,  that  line  the  shore, 
or  of  the  possibility  of  making  a  journey  into 
the  heart  of  the  little  Kingdom  of  Monte- 
negro, and  of  there  seeing  the  bravest,  most 
stalwart,  and  handsomest  people  in  all  Eu- 
rope. 

All  these  surprises  were  in  store  for  me 
when  I  took  passage  on  an  Austrian  Lloyd 
steamer  at  Trieste  for  Cattaro,  the  most 
southern  town  in  Dalmatia  and  on  the  very 
edge  of  Montenegro.  By  preference,  we 
chose  a  slow  freight-steamer  that  dawdled 
down  the  Dalmatian  coast,  stopping  at  every 
114 


Where  Sea  and  Mountains  Marry 

little  port  to  discharge  huge  boxes  of  Aus- 
trian merchandise  and  cans  of  American 
kerosene  oil,  and  to  take  on,  as  a  fair  exchange, 
great  barrels  of  olive-oil,  hogsheads  of  wine, 
sheep  and  goats  and  chickens,  boxes  of  Dal- 
matian insect-powder,  and  anything  else 
which  the  Dalmatians  had  to  offer.  It  is,  in- 
deed a  wonderful  journey.  In  and  out,  out 
and  in,  the  steamer  threads  its  way,  almost 
always  in  still  water,  and  sometimes  appar- 
ently completely  landlocked,  with  the  islands 
on  one  side  and  the  steep,  sterile  shores  of 
Dalmatia  on  the  other. 

Strabo  described  Dalmatia  as  barren  and 
rocky,  and  the  country  has  not  improved  in 
any  perceptible  degree  since  Strabo's  time. 
I  had  always  supposed  a  New  Hampshire 
hillside  farm  to  be  the  synonym  for  rocks 
and  sterility,  and  from  my  boyhood  I  have 
been  familiar  with  the  joke  about  the  sheep 
that  have  to  sharpen  their  noses  before  they 
can  pick  out  the  grass-blades  from  between 
the  rocks,  and  about  the  farmers  who  have 
to  plant  their  peas  and  beans  by  firing  them 
out  of  a  shot-gun.  But  the  most  sterile  New 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

Hampshire  hillside  farm  I  ever  saw  (and  I 
lived  among  the  New  Hampshire  hills  for 
ten  years)  is  a  paradise  of  fertility  compared 
with  hundreds  of  miles  of  the  Dalmatian 
coast.  Yet  here  for  thousands  of  years  men 
have  lived,  and  grown  old,  and  died.  Here 
battles  have  been  fought,  and  dynasties  have 
been  overthrown.  Here  Caesars  have  had 
their  palaces,  and  have  built  their  temples 
and  their  coliseums. 

Dalmatia,  which  is  one  of  the  crown  lands 
of  Austria,  has  been  the  theatre  of  much  of 
the  world's  most  stirring  history,  from  the 
time  of  the  Caesars  to  the  day  when  Napo- 
leon I  incorporated  it  in  his  short-lived 
"Kingdom  of  Illyria."  This  was  in  1810. 
But  in  1814  it  was  handed  back  to  the  Aus- 
trians,  who  had  possessed  it  for  a  few  brief 
years,  from  1797  to  1805,  when  they  had 
ceded  these  coast-lands  to  Italy.  Dalmatia's 
history  has,  indeed,  been  a  varied  one. 
Since  the  days  of  Caesar  Augustus,  Goths, 
Avars,  Slavs,  Magyars,  Turks,  Venetians, 
French,  and  Austrians  have  fought  for  and 
successively  ruled  this  stern  and  rock-bound 
116 


Where  Sea  and  Mountains  Marry 

coast,  whose  magnificent  harbors  have  ex- 
cited the  cupidity  of  all  these  races.  Barren, 
rough,  forbidding  as  it  is,  it  has  a  beauty 
and  a  grandeur  all  its  own.  Splendid  moun- 
tains, some  of  them  snow-crowned,  as  I  have 
said,  tower  up  from  the  very  edge  of  the 
water.  Lovely  fiords,  as  fine  as  anything  in 
Norway,  Alaska,  or  the  Faroe  Islands,  pierce 
the  land  in  every  direction,  affording  scores 
of  fine  harbors  for  the  navy  and  the  mer- 
chant vessels  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  fleet. 
Charming  islands  shut  away  the  boisterous 
Adriatic,  and  would  allow  the  traveler  to  im- 
agine that  he  is  on  an  inland  lake,  did  not  the 
large  ocean  steamer  on  which  he  is  embarked 
challenge  the  idea. 

But,  above  all,  this  is  the  land  of  romance 
and  history.  You  can  scarcely  go  ashore  at 
any  little,  dilapidated,  gone-to-sleep  town 
without  finding  a  beautiful  Roman  temple 
or  arena,  or  at  least  a  splendid  Corinthian 
column,  two  thousand  years  old,  standing  in 
the  market-place.  The  arena  at  Pola,  which 
is  Austria's  chief  naval  station,  is  finer  and  in 
far  better  repair  than  the  Coliseum  at  Rome, 
117 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

and  Diocletian's  palace  in  Spalato  is  more  im- 
pressive than  most  of  the  ruins  that  travelers 
rave  over  and  that  guide-books  mark  with 
two  stars. 

Yet  who  in  America  ever  talks  of  Spalato  ? 
Who  crosses  the  ocean  to  see  Pola's  coli- 
seum, or  its  still  more  beautiful  temple,  built 
nineteen  years  before  Christ  and  still  in  a  fine 
state  of  preservation?  Who  is  interested  in 
Ragusa,  the  little  republic  which  so  long  main- 
tained its  independence  when  all  the  rest  of 
Europe  was  trembling  at  the  advance  of  the 
Turk  ?  Yet  there  is  no  more  picturesque  spot 
in  all  the  world  than  Ragusa,  the  bride  of  the 
sea  and  the  daughter  of  the  mountains,  sitting 
regally  on  her  narrow  peninsula  that  the  sea 
and  the  mountains  allow  her. 

But  the  most  interesting  part  of  all  the 
journey  is  the  detour  to  Montenegro  that  one 
makes  from  Cattaro,  the  most  s  outhern  town  in 
Dalmatia,just  over  the  Montenegrin  border. 
Here  the  mountains  assume  their  grimmest 
and  most  savage  aspect.  "  Frowning  moun- 
tains "  is  no  name  for  them.  They  are  hide- 
ously scowling  mountains,  these  black  hills 

118 


Where  Sea  and  Mountains  Many 

of  Montenegro,  from  which  the  country  gets 
its  name.  Of  solid  dark-gray  rock,  so  bleak, 
wind-swept,  and  precipitous  that  scarcely  a 
green  thing  can  find  lodgment  on  them,  they 
tower  over  the  peaceful  fiord  of  Cattaro, 
almost  overhanging  the  water  with  their  sul- 
len, dark  brows.  Up,  up,  up,  by  many  zig- 
zags we  climbed  these  tremendous  rocks, 
over  a  pass  three  thousand  feet  directly  above 
the  sea;  then  a  little  stretch  of  comparatively 
level  but  equally  barren  country;  then  up 
another  mountain  and  over  another  pass  four 
thousand  feet  high  our  road  lay.  For  six 
hours  we  climbed  and  climbed,  and  it  was 
quite  dark  before  the  twinkling  lights  ©f 
Cetinje,  the  capital  of  Montenegro,  blessed 
our  eyes.  Here  we  found  a  country  village 
of  about  three  thousand  inhabitants,  where 
every  man  looks  like  a  brigand,  wearing  his 
belt  stuck  full  of  pistols  and  daggers.  Yet 
most  handsome  and  mild-mannered  brigands 
they  are,  I  must  say,  trying  to  get  the  better 
of  us  in  every  bargain,  as  all  Easterners  do, 
but  plying  their  brigandage  in  no  other  way. 
In  this  almost  inaccessible  mountain  strang- 
119 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

hold  the  Montenegrins  of  a  thousand  years 
have  defied  the  Turks  and  maintained  their 
independence,  and  within  a  short  time 
their  beloved  prince,  Nicholas  I,  has  of 
his  own  accord  given  his  people  a  consti- 
tutional government  and  has  summoned  a 
parliament. 

There  are  only  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand Montenegrins,  all  told,  living  in  the  bar- 
renest  corner  of  this  round  earth,  so  far  as  I 
have  seen  it.  They  are  poor  as  poverty,  too, 
living  for  the  most  part  in  mud  or  stone  huts, 
with  thatched  roof  and  no  chimney;  but  they 
are  men  for  all  that,  free,  brawny,  brave, 
handsome,  independent  men,  content  with 
their  lot  and  proud  of  their  fearsome  moun- 
tains and  awful  chasms, — the  finest  race, 
as  a  race,  that  I  have  seen  in  this  part  of  the 
world.  And  the  reason  is  not  far  to  seek. 
They  have  been  to  the  School  of  Liberty. 
They  have  breathed  the  mountain  air  of  free- 
dom for  a  thousand  years.  Every  man  is  a 
possible  hero,  every  woman  the  mother  of  a 
hero.  Long  live  the  freedom-loving  Mon- 
tenegrins! 

120 


Where  Sea  and  Mountains  Marry 

This  little  digression  concerning  Monte- 
negro may  be  forgiven,  perhaps,  since  the 
Montenegrins,  though  they  do  not  belong  to 
Austria- Hungary,  in  their  history  and  their 
traditions  have  much  in  common  with  the 
outlying  sections  of  the  Dual  Monarchy.  Few 
Montenegrins  have  come  to  our  shores  as  yet, 
but  when  we  consider  the  attractions  which 
America  offers  them  over  their  own  sterile 
mountains,  it  would  not  be  surprising  if  the 
tide  of  emigration  should  set  in,  and  a  large 
part  of  the  population  eventually  find  homes 
in  our  hospitable  land. 

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 

Bosnia-Herzegovina  lie  directly  east  of 
Dalmatia,  separated  from  that  seacoast  pro- 
vince by  the  same  sterile  mountains  that  loom 
so  threateningly  above  its  rocky  shores.  On 
the  side  of  Bosnia-Herzegovina,  however, 
they  smile  more  than  they  frown,  and  many  a 
charming  valley  and  fertile  meadow  is  found 
on  their  eastern  slope.  The  emigration  from 
Bosnia -Herzegovina  has  heretofore  been 
comparatively  small;  and  yet,  since  these 

121 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

provinces  are  governed  by  Austria,  and  the 
tide  of  emigration  from  all  of  them  has  be- 
gun to  set  toward  the  United  States,  it  is 
worth  while  briefly  to  consider  them  and 
their  people. 

Here  the  East  and  the  West  meet  as  in 
no  other  part  of  the  Dual  Monarchy.  In  the 
early  days  the  Bosnians  belonged  to  a  sect 
of  Christians  called  Bogomiles,  which  the 
Catholics  regarded  as  heretical  and  which 
they  tried  with  all  their  might  to  suppress. 
The  common  people,  for  the  most  part,  re- 
sented this  interference,  and  preferred  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Turk  to  the  kind  of  Christianity 
which  the  Franciscans  would  force  upon 
them,  so  these  provinces  were  ground  be- 
tween the  upper  and  nether  millstones  of 
the  Moslem  and  the  Catholic;  but  much  Ori- 
ental blood  still  runs  in  their  veins,  and  there 
is  little  national  or  religious  unity  to  bind  the 
people  together. 

Divided  as  the  people  were  in  their  re- 
ligions, between  the  East  and  the  West,  their 
country  was  often  the  battle-ground  of  Turk 
and  Christian.  Over  and  over  again  it  was 

122 


Where  Sea  and  Mountains  Marry 

overrun  and  laid  waste,  and  the  lot  of  the 
people  was  indeed  deplorable. 

Mr.  Colquhoun,  in  "The  Whirlpool  of  Eu- 
rope," gives  an  interesting  account  of  Sara- 
jevo, the  capital  of  Bosnia-Herzegovina:  — 

The  five-and-twenty  years  of  Austrian  occupation 
has  not,  in  Sarajevo,  the  capital,  done  more  than 
place  a  surface  crust  over  the  lives  of  the  people. 
Even  here  one  may  turn  out  of  one's  modern  hotel 
and  in  a  few  steps  enter  the  bazaar  —  that  labyrinth 
of  lanes,  flanked  with  wooden  booths  in  front  of 
stone  buildings. 

Here  is  no  trace  of  the  West.  The  barber  plies  his 
trade;  the  shoemaker  displays  his  peaked  slippers 
of  red  or  yellow,  and  patches  his  customer's  worn 
goods,  spectacles  on  nose ;  the  silver  and  copper 
smith  has  his  little  furnace  and  apparatus  of  primi- 
tive simplicity;  the  tailor  sits  cross-legged  on  his 
bench,  and  the  sweetmeat-seller  greets  one's  nos- 
trils with  the  odor  of  ghee,  to  be  smelt  a  long  way 
off. 

Most  characteristic  of  all  is  the  beturbaned  old 
gray  beard,  seated  cross-legged  before  his  door, 
smoking  sedately  and  imperturbably  his  cigarette  or 
long  hookah  and  surveying  the  world  with  the  indif- 
ference of  age-long  philosophy.  Through  the  mur- 
mur of  sounds  that  fills  the  heavy  air,  laden  with  the 
many  smells  of  an  Oriental  bazaar,  comes  a  familiar 
clang  —  the  importunate  jangling  of  the  bell  of  an 
123 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

electric  train  which  glides  along  near  by  in  vivid 
contrast  to  this  bit  of  old  world. 

The  people  have  the  virtues  and  the  vices 
of  the  primitive  races,  for  they  are  the  least 
developed  of  all  belonging  to  Austria.  They 
are  strong,  vigorous,  well-knit  physically, 
with  little  intellectual  enterprise,  due  very 
likely  to  their  lack  of  opportunities;  but  they 
have  in  them  the  making  of  a  vigorous  and 
useful  people,  and,  with  the  facility  of  all 
Slavs,  they  are  able  to  adapt  themselves  to 
circumstances,  to  make  the  best  of  their  con- 
dition, and,  for  the  most  part,  to  endure  their 
lot  uncomplainingly. 

Trieste,  Austria's  great  seaport  on  the 
Adriatic  coast,  of  which  I  shall  speak  in 
another  chapter,  is  of  particular  interest  to 
Americans,  since  from  this  port  embark  tens 
of  thousands  of  would-be  citizens  of  our 
republic.  Not  many  months  ago,  as  I  was 
returning  to  my  hotel  from  a  late  meeting  in 
the  town  of  Agram,  the  capital  of  Croatia,  I 
met  a  long  procession  of  men,  women,  and 
children,  each  with  a  bundle,  or  a  carpet- 
bag, or  a  tin  can,  or  some  article  of  bedding 
124 


Where  Sea  and  Mountains  Marry 

or  household  furniture,  and  each  with  a  de- 
termined look  and  steady  stride  as  though 
on  some  serious  errand  bent.  I  soon  found 
that  their  purpose  was  indeed  a  serious  one, 
for  they  were  bound  for  the  happy  land  of 
freedom  and  prosperity,  as  they  regarded  it. 
There  were  at  least  five  hundred  of  them  in 
this  band;  and  I  was  told  by  a  resident  of 
Agram  that  more  than  a  thousand  gathered 
in  this  little  capital  every  week,  and  from  here 
started  on  their  long  journey  to  America. 

The  next  day,  taking  the  train  from  Agram 
to  Trieste,  I  found  the  third-class  compart- 
ments crowded  to  suffocation  with  these 
same  men,  women,  and  children  whom  I  had 
seen  the  night  before.  Doubtless  many  tears 
had  fallen,  as  they  left  their  homes  in  the 
country,  but  these  were  all  receding  into  the 
distance,  and  good  cheer  had  taken  the  place 
of  the  sorrow  at  parting  from  friends.  With 
many  quips  and  jokes  and  songs  they  be- 
guiled the  long  journey  to  Trieste,  and  a  day 
or  two  after  I  embarked  with  them  on  the 
same  ship,  which  was  to  take  me  to  Greece 
and  to  take  them  to  far-off  America.  Such 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

scenes  are  common  in  a  score  of  towns 
and  cities  throughout  Austria-Hungary,  and 
every  one  of  them  is  loaded  with  significance 
for  every  American  who  loves  his  country 
and  his  fellow  men  who,  from  among  these 
many  races,  are  seeking  our  shores. 


X 


HUNGARY,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  FREE  AND 
THE  BRAVE 

The  Buffer  State  between  Mohammedanism  and  Christ- 
ianity —  The  Mountains  and  Rivers  and  Plains  of  Hungary 

—  Where  the  Hungarians  originated  —  How  they  took  the 
Oath  in  Ancient  Days  —  The  Battle-Cries  of  Two  Nations  — 
How  Duke  Lehel  used  his  Hunting-Horn  —  A  Race  converted 
to  Christianity— St.  Stephen  the  King  and  Patron  Saint  — 
The   Degenerate   Successors  of    St.    Stephen  —  The   Cruel 
Times  of  Old  —  The  Golden  Bull  of  Hungary  —A  Devastated 
Nation  —  Hungary  rises   from   its   Sackcloth    and  Ashes  — 
Sigismund's  Unhappy  End  — The  Golden  Age  of  Hungarian 
History  —  Brave  John  Hunyadi,  and  his  RemarkableVictories 

—  Matthias,  the  Great  Son  of  a  Noble  Father —  How  he  con- 
quered the  Austrians  and  the  Turks —  His  Strategy  and  Gen- 
eralship —  The  Turkish  Victory  at  the  Battle  of  Mohacs  — 
One  Hundred  and  Fifty  Years  of  Turkish  Rule — The  Last 
Campaign  of  the  Mohammedans  against  the  Western  Nations 

—  A  New  Chapter   in   the   History  of   Hungary — Transyl- 
vania, the  Brightest  Spot  in  the  Domains  of  Hungary  —  Hun- 
gary as  a  Province  of  Austria  —  Maria  Theresa  and  her  Son 
Joseph  II  —  His  Penny-wise  Economy — Revival  of  the  Na- 
tional Spirit  —  Stephen  Szdchenyi,  the  Regenerator  of  Hun- 
gary— Louis  Kossuth  the  Eloquent — A  Failure  that  resulted 
in  Final  Victory. 

AMONG  all  the  stories  of  the  nations,  from 
the  days  of  the  Hittites  to  the  time  of  the 
latest  and  largest  republic  of  all,  the  Republic 
of  China,  there  are  few  if  any  that  are  more 
thrilling  and  romantic  than  the  story  of  Hun- 

127 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

gary.  No  people  have  ever  shown  a  greater 
love  for  freedom,  none  ever  fought  more 
valiantly  for  their  rights. 

The  fact  that  Hungary  for  centuries  was 
the  buffer  state  between  Mohammedanism 
and  Christianity,  and  often  by  her  own  un- 
aided efforts  prevented  the  hordes  of  Moslems 
from  overrunning  Europe,  should  alone  com- 
mend her  story  to  every  American  in  whose 
veins  flows  the  blood  of  Anglo-Saxon  or  Teu- 
ton, Latin  or  Slav.  Hungary  seems  to  have 
been  cut  out  by  nature  for  a  great  nation. 
Her  natural  features  are  on  a  large  scale.  The 
splendid  Carpathian  Mountains  surround  her 
territory  with  a  wall  of  granite,  but  a  wall 
made  beautiful  almost  to  its  summit  with  trees 
of  many  kinds;  while  on  the  very  crest  of 
these  mountains  are  found  crystal  lakes  of 
unmeasured  depth,  and  down  their  sides  dash 
the  beautiful  streams  that "  make  the  mead- 
ows green."  The  rivers  of  Hungary,  too,  are 
planned  on  a  large  scale.  The  "  beautiful  blue 
Danube,"  the  largest  river  in  Europe,  with 
one  exception,  flows  almost  through  the 
centre  of  the  kingdom,  while  the  Theiss  and 
128 


'*^  ^P^RPBBPSSiiW'BBi 


ONE    OF    THE    LONG-HORNED  WHITE    OXEN    OF    THE 
ALFOLD    OF    HUNGARY 


HUNGARIAN    SHEPHERDS 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

other  large  streams,  navigable  for  hundreds 
of  miles,  are  tributaries  of  the  great  river. 

The  great  plains  of  Hungary  are  among  the 
principal  features  which  have  made  the  nation 
great  and  prosperous,f  or  they  cover  thousands 
of  square  miles  in  extent,  and  are  of  unfailing 
fertility,  equaling  in  their  rich  depth  of  soil  our 
own  noblest  prairies.  The  great  plain,  the  Al- 
f  old,  as  it  is  called,  is  the  granary  of  Hungary, 
and  not  only  supplies  wheat  and  corn  for  the 
use  of  the  nation,  but  exports  much  to  foreign 
lands.  The  climate,  as  can  be  imagined  in 
such  a  country,  is  exceedingly  varied,  ranging 
from  the  sub-tropical  on  the  shores  of  the 
Adriatic  to  the  sub-arctic  as  one  ascends  the 
Carpathian  Mountains  towards  the  borders 
of  Galicia. 

But  the  people  of  Hungary  are  even  more  in- 
teresting than  their  country.  They  are  unique 
in  their  religion  and  racial  characteristics 
among  the  peoples  of  Europe.  They  belong 
neither  to  the  Anglo-Saxon,  the  Teutonic,  the 
Latin,  nor  the  Slavic  races.  Their  only  rela- 
tives in  Europe  are  the  people  of  Finland, 
who  are  descended  from  an  allied  race;  but 
129 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

they  are  related  to  the  Turks  and  the  Mon- 
gols of  Asia  Minor  and  of  remoter  Asia,  and 
their  ancestors  came  from  the  region  of 
the  Ural  Mountains  and  the  valleys  of  the 
Altai. 

Their  early  history,  like  that  of  most  great 
nations,  is  lost  in  the  maze  of  mythology;  but 
it  is  interesting  to  read  the  tradition  that  Nim- 
rod,  the  grandson  of  Noah,  was  the  founder 
of  the  race,  and  that  his  wife,  Eneh,  bore  him 
two  sons,  Hunyor  and  Magyar.  These  two 
brothers,  —  who  were  great  hunters  like 
their  father,  who  has  given  his  name  to  every 
expert  user  of  the  arrow,  spear,  and  gun  since 
his  day, — while  chasing  a  doe  in  the  forests 
of  the  Caucasus,  were  led  to  move  west- 
ward, and  found  a  country  rich  in  fertile 
meadows  and  green  fields.  The  doe  vanished 
from  before  their  eyes,  for  she  had  evidently 
been  invented  by  the  myth-makers  to*  lead 
the  brothers  into  their  new  domain ;  and  after- 
wards, we  are  told,  the  progeny  of  Hunyor 
settled  beyond  the  Volga,  while  the  sons  and 
grandsons  of  Magyar  settled  about  the  river 
Don,  and  were  known  thereafter  as  Don- 
130 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

Magyars.  However  much  or  however  little 
true  history  is  found  in  this  maze  of  myths, 
the  names  have  persisted  through  all  the 
centuries.  The  Huns  devastated  Europe  in 
the  early  centuries,  and  "  Magyar  "  is  still  the 
most  honored  name  by  which  the  people  of 
Hungary  choose  to  be  known. 

From  the  beginning  the  Hungarians  have 
been  a  warlike,  conquering  people,  and  we 
can  easily  believe  the  story  of  the  Seven  Dukes 
of  Hungary,  who  sealed  their  union  by  each 
opening  a  vein  in  the  arm  of  all  the  others, 
and  drinking  in  turn  from  the  spouting  blood. 
This  form  of  oath,  we  are  told,  was  for  a  long 
time  the  custom  in  Hungary.  One  of  the  five 
conditions  of  their  union  was  thus  stated: 
"Whenever  any  of  their  descendants  shall  be 
found  wanting  in  the  fidelity  due  to  the  prince, 
or  shall  foment  dissensions  between  him  and 
his  kindred,  the  blood  of  the  guilty  one  shall 
be  shed  even  as  theirs  was  flowing  when  they 
gave  their  oaths  of  fidelity  to  Almos  [their 
chief]." 

The  blood  that  flowed  from  the  veins  of 
the  Seven  Dukes  was  typical  of  the  blood 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

which  should  freely  flow  through  the  history 
of  Hungary,  from  those  earliest  days  to  the 
times  of  Kossuth  and  his  unsuccessful  and 
yet  in  the  end  gloriously  successful  uprising. 
The  romancer  who  should  tell  the  story 
of  Hungary  would  not  have  to  draw  upon 
his  imagination  for  exciting  situations  and 
deeds  of  heroic  valor.  Some  of  them  are  well 
worth  relating,  as  showing  the  innate  char- 
acteristics of  this  heroic  people. 

t 

Under  the  reign  of  Arpad,  the  first  ruler 
of  Hungary,  whose  rule  spanned  the  last  part 
of  the  ninth  and  the  first  part  of  the  tenth 
century,  the  Hungarians  were  everywhere 
successful,  for  Arpad  was  a  great  general 
as  well  as  a  great  king ;  but  upon  his  death 
there  was  no  one  of  his  ability  to  take  up  his 
work,  and  for  the  first  time  (about  the  middle 
of  the  tenth  century)  the  Germans  checked 
the  advance  of  the  Hungarian  hosts.  The 
battle-cries  of  the  two  nations,  one  Christian 
and  the  other  still  pagan,  though  soon  to  be 
converted  to  Christianity,  were  significant. 
The  Germans  shouted,  "  Kyrie  eleyson,"  as 
they  drove  their  hosts  against  the  Hungarian 
132 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

ranks,  while  the  Hungarians  replied  with 
their  barbaric  yell,  "Hooy!  Hooy!"  But  the 
Germans  were  better  drilled  and  equipped, 
and  for  a  time  the  advance  of  the  Hunga- 
rians was  checked  and  their  army  destroyed. 

An  interesting  legend  is  still  current  among 
the  Hungarians  about  the  death  of  Lehel, 
one  of  their  early  heroes,  whose  ivory  bugle- 
horn,  which  the  iconoclastic  archaeologists 
are  cruel  enough  to  call  a  Roman  drinking- 
cup,  is  still  seen;  but  this  is  the  story,  which 
we  prefer  to  maintain  in  spite  of  the  archae- 
ologists, who,  if  they  had  their  way,  would 
make  history  so  tame  and  commonplace. 

In  the  disastrous  battle  of  Augsburg,  the 
Duke  Lehel  was  taken  prisoner  and  brought 
before  his  conqueror,  Otto.  He  was  con- 
demned to  death,  which  did  not  greatly 
frighten  him,  for  he  had  faced  death  every 
day  of  his  mature  life;  but  he  begged  for  one 
favor,  and  that  was  that  he  might  be  allowed 
to  wind  his  horn  once  more,  and  so  sound 
his  funeral  dirge.  "  The  horn  was  handed  to 
him.  He  sounded  it  for  the  last  time;  and, 
as  he  drew  from  it  the  sad  strains  which 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

sounded  far  and  wide  and  were  mournfully 
reechoed  by  the  distant  hills,  the  dying  war- 
rior on  the  field  of  Lech  lifted  up  his  head, 
eagerly  listening  to  the  familiar  bugle,  and 
the  soul  which  had  come  back  to  him  for 
one  instant  took  wings  again  as  soon  as  the 
sad  strains  died  away.  At  that  moment  Lehel 
broke  away  from  his  place,  and  seeing  Con- 
rad, his  enemy,  before  him,  felled  him  to  the 
ground,  killing  him  with  a  single  blow  from 
the  heavy  horn.  'Thou  shalt  go  before  me 
and  be  my  servant  in  the  other  world,'  cried 
Lehel.  Thereupon  he  went  to  the  place  of 
execution."  Moreover,  we  are  solemnly  told, 
in  undeniable  proof  of  this  story,  that  "  there 
is  discernible  on  Lehel's  horn  to  this  day  a 
large  indentation  which  posterity  attributes 
to  the  event  just  narrated." 

The  Hungarians  were  not  content  to  re- 
main long  in  the  darkness  and  superstition  of 
heathenism,  for  the  good  Bishop  of  Prague, 
St.  Adalbert,  before  the  close  of  the  tenth 
century  came  to  Hungary  and  baptized  many 
of  the  leading  people  into  the  Christian  faith. 
'34 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

Of  all  his  converts,  there  was  one  who  was 
destined  to  exert  a  remarkable  and  lasting 
influence  upon  the  nation  which  had  so  re- 
cently been  born.  He  was  the  son  of  Duke 
Geyza,  one  of  the  reigning  families  of  Hun- 
gary, and  when  he  was  baptized  he  was 
given  the  name  of  Stephen,  after  the  first 
martyr.  To  the  baptism  of  this  noble  youth, 
the  Hungarian  nation  looks  back  with  rever- 
ence and  gratitude  as  the  turning-point  in  its 
history;  for  young  Stephen  became,  in  course 
of  time,  King  Stephen,  and  through  his  in- 
fluence and  powerful  personality  Hungary 
took  her  place  among  the  ranks  of  the  fore- 
most nations  of  the  West.  He  gave  his  name, 
indeed,  to  the  whole  country,  for  the  nation 
is  called  interchangeably  "the  Kingdom  of 
Hungary  "  and  "  the  realm  of  St.  Stephen." 
No  Hungarian  king  comes  to  the  throne,  and 
is  acknowledged  the  ruler  of  the  nation,  un- 
til he  has  been  crowned  with  the  identical 
crown  of  St.  Stephen. 

The   2oth   of  August   is    "St.  Stephen's 
Day,"  and  is  the  greatest  holiday  of  the  year 
throughout  the  nation.  Then  his  right  hand, 
'35 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

embalmed  and  sacredly  preserved  for  nearly 
nine  centuries,  is  carried  through  the  streets 
of  the  capital,  followed  by  a  great  and  not- 
able procession  of  the  people,  while  devout 
religious  ceremonies  are  performed,  show- 
ing the  gratitude  of  the  people  for  their  first 
Christian  king. 

"The  crown  lands  of  St.  Stephen"  is  a 
name  given  to  the  dependencies  of  Hungary, 
and  there  is  no  more  interesting  relic  in  the 
treasure-chambers  of  all  Europe  than  the 
crown  itself,  which  first  adorned  the  head  of 
the  sainted  king.  As  indicating  the  Christian 
character  of  the  converted  nation,  a  picture 
of  the  Saviour  is  embedded  in  the  crown, 
surrounded  by  the  sun  and  moon  and  two 
trees,  while  the  figures  of  the  twelve  apos- 
tles, each  having  an  appropriate  Latin  in- 
scription, are  also  found  in  the  crown,  which 
is  encrusted  with  pearls  and  diamonds  and 
precious  stones.  Besides  these  pictures  are 
representations  of  the  archangels,  Michael 
and  Gabriel;  of  the  four  saints,  Damianus, 
Dominic,  Cosmus,  and  George ;  of  two  Greek 
emperors,  and  the  Hungarian  king  Geyza, 
136 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

father  of  St.  Stephen.  To  this  day  the  Catho- 
lic Church  of  Hungary  holds  vast  amounts  of 
property  which  were  bequeathed  by  King 
Stephen  in  the  early  glow  of  his  religious 
zeal. 

The  advice  given  by  King  Stephen  to  his 
son,  as  quoted  by  Professor  Vambe'ry,  in  his 
history  of  Hungary,  is  as  noble  and  exalted 
as  any  advice  that  father  ever  gave  to  son:  — 

The  time  has  arrived  [said  the  king]  to  leave  be- 
hind thee  those  pillows  of  luxuriousness  which  are 
apt  to  render  thee  weak  and  frivolous,  to  make  thee 
waste  thy  virtues,  and  to  nourish  thee  in  thy  sins. 
Harden  thy  soul  in  order  that  thy  mind  may  atten- 
tively listen  to  my  counsels.  I  command,  counsel, 
and  advise  thee,  above  all,  to  preserve  carefully  the 
apostolic  and  Catholic  faith  if  thou  wishest  thy 
kingly  crown  to  be  held  in  respect,  and  to  set  such 
an  example  to  thy  subjects  that  the  clergy  may 
justly  call  thee  a  Christian  man,  ...  for  he  who 
does  not  adorn  his  faith  with  good  deeds  —  the  one 
being  a  dead  thing  without  the  others  —  cannot 
rule  in  honor. 

Another  quotation  from  St.  Stephen  is 
worth  recording  in  this  connection,  when  so 
many  Americans  are  afraid  of  the  influx  of 
foreigners  from  many  lands,  and  desire  to 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

adopt,  for  selfish  reasons,  an  exclusive  policy 
toward  worthy  immigrants.  Hungary  was 
facing  in  St.  Stephen's  time  some  of  the  same 
problems;  for  foreigners,  attracted  by  the 
growing  glories  of  the  nation  and  the  prowess 
of  her  soldiers,  were  coming  from  many  lands. 
Concerning  them,  St.  Stephen  says :  — 

The  Roman  Empire  owed  its  growth,  and  its 
rulers  their  glory  and  power,  chiefly  to  the  numer- 
ous wise  and  noble  men  who  gathered  within  its 
boundaries  from  every  quarter  of  the  world.  ...  A 
country  speaking  but  one  language,  and  where  uni- 
form customs  prevail,  is  weak  and  frail.  Therefore  I 
enjoin  on  thee,  my  son,  to  treat  and  behave  towards 
them  decorously,  so  that  they  shall  more  cheerfully 
abide  with  thee  than  elsewhere.  For  if  thou  shouldst 
spoil  what  I  have  built  up,  and  scatter  what  I  have 
gathered,  thy  realm  would  surely  suffer  great  detri- 
ment from  it.  ...  I  therefore  beseech  and  enjoin 
upon  thee,  my  beloved  son,  thou  delight  of  my 
heart  and  hope  of  the  coming  generation,  be  above 
all  gracious,  not  only  to  thy  kinsmen,  to  princes, 
and  to  dukes,  but  also  to  thy  neighbors  and  sub- 
jects; be  merciful  and  forbearing,  not  only  to  the 
powerful,  but  to  the  weak;  and,  finally,  be  strong, 
lest  good  fortune  elate  thee,  and  bad  fortune  depress 
thee.  Be  humble,  moderate,  and  gentle,  be  honor- 
able and  modest,  for  these  virtues  are  the  chief 
ornaments  of  the  kingly  crown. 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

But  the  young  prince  was  not  destined  to 
succeed  his  father,  for  he  died  in  his  early 
youth.  The  kingly  crown,  however,  remained 
in  the  family  for  three  hundred  years,  and 
during  all  these  centuries  the  memory  of 
St.  Stephen  laid  a  restraining  and  guiding 
hand  upon  his  successors. 

The  first  two  centuries  of  the  rule  of  the 
House  of  Arpad,  founded  by  King  Stephen, 
were  centuries  of  almost  universal  and  con- 
tinual victory,  marred,  however,  by  more  or 
less  internal  dissensions;  but  the  power  of 
the  kings  did  not  seriously  decline  until  the 
third  century  after  the  dynasty  was  founded. 

Many  are  the  romantic  incidents  recorded 
of  the  kings  of  the  House  of  Arpad.  In  spite 
of  the  dawn  of  Christianity  and  its  growing 
power,  those  early  days  of  Hungary  were 
marked  by  cruelty  and  vindictiveness  which 
is  now  almost  unbelievable.  Especially  was 
this  true  of  the  degenerate  days  of  the  suc- 
cessors of  St.  Stephen. 

Bela  II,  who  reigned  in  the  middle  of  the 
twelfth  century,  before  he  ascended  the  throne 
.139 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

had  both  his  eyes  put  out  by  his  enemies, 
who  belonged  to  the  Diet  or  legislature  of 
the  country.  On  his  succession  to  the  throne, 
he  professed  to  forgive  his  enemies,  and  sum- 
moned the  lords  to  meet  in  council  at  Arad. 
Bela's  queen,  Ilona,  was  even  more  revenge- 
ful than  himself,  and  after  the  Diet  was 
assembled  she  described  with  pathos  and 
eloquence  the  cruelties  which  had  been  prac- 
ticed on  her  blind  husband,  and  denounced 
with  terrible  effect  the  crimes  of  those  who 
had  blinded  him.  Then  she  gave  the  signal 
of  revenge.  The  soldiers  of  the  King  picked 
out  among  the  crowd  of  lords  and  courtiers 
the  King's  enemies  who  had  formerly  im- 
prisoned and  blinded  him.  The  hall  of  legis- 
lature flowed  with  the  blood  of  the  lords, 
and  the  eyes  of  many  who  were  spared  never 
looked  upon  the  light  of  the  sun  again. 

With  the  decline  of  the  royal  power  dur- 
ing the  period  of  civil  strife  which  followed, 
the  contest  was  between  the  royal  family  and 
the  nobles.  Little  by  little  the  gentry  waxed 
stronger  than  royalty,  and  at  last  wrung  from 
the  King,  who  at  that  time  was  Andrew  II, 
140 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

one  of  the  degenerate  descendants  of  King 
Stephen,  their  Magna  Charta.  It  was  called 
"  The  Golden  Bull,"  because  the  seal  ap- 
pended to  the  document  by  a  silk  string  is 
inclosed  in  a  golden  box.  This  declaration 
of  independence  on  the  part  of  the  nobles  of 
Hungary  secured  for  them,  on  paper  at  least, 
the  rights  for  which  they  had  been  long  strug- 
gling; but  they  had  to  continue  the  fight 
with  King  Andrew  II  and  his  son,  Bela  IV, 
and  throughout  all  these  years  of  contest 
the  country  of  Hungary  suffered  untold  mis- 
eries. 

In  the  midst  of  civil  strife  the  Mongols  at- 
tacked the  Hungarians,  and  the  Hungarian 
army  of  fifty  thousand  warriors  was  almost 
wiped  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  A  contem- 
porary writer,  quoted  by  Professor  Vambery, 
says:  "During  a  march  of  two  days,  thou 
couldst  see  nothing  along  the  roads  but  fallen 
warriors.  Their  dead  bodies  were  lying  about 
like  stones  in  a  quarry." 

It  seemed  as  though  the  last  days  of  Hun- 
gary had  come.  Civil  wars  and  foreign  wars 
had  devastated  the  land  from  the  Carpathians 
141 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

to  the  Adriatic.  The  condition  of  the  coun- 
try was  indeed  deplorable.  "Here  and  there," 
we  are  told  by  a  writer  of  the  day,  "  a  tower, 
half-burnt  and  blackened  by  smoke,  and  rear- 
ing its  head  towards  the  sky,  like  a  mourning 
flag  over  a  funereal  monument,  indicated  the 
direction  in  which  King  Bela,  with  a  few  of 
his  followers,  advanced  after  their  defeat,  into 
the  heart  of  their  once  prosperous  country. 
The  highways  were  overgrown  with  grass, 
the  fields  white  with  bleaching  bones,  and 
not  a  living  soul  came  out  to  meet  them. 
And  the  deeper  they  penetrated  into  the  land, 
the  more  terrible  the  sights  they  saw.  When 
at  last  those  who  survived  crept  forth  from 
their  hiding-places,  half  of  them  fell  victims 
to  wild  animals,  starvation,  and  pestilence. 
The  stores  laid  up  by  the  tillers  of  the  soil, 
the  year  before,  had  been  carried  away  by 
the  Mongols,  and  the  little  grain  they  could 
sow  after  the  departure  of  the  enemy  had 
hardly  sprung  up  when  it  was  devoured  by 
locusts.  The  famine  assumed  such  frightful 
proportions  that  starving  people,  in  their 
frenzy,  killed  each  other,  and  it  happened 
142 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

that  men  would  bring  to  market  human  flesh 
for  sale.  Since  the  birth  of  Christ  no  country 
has  ever  been  overwhelmed  by  such  mis- 
ery." 

But  Hungary  was  great  even  in  her  defeat; 
and  the  fact  that  she  recovered  from  these 
awful  disasters  and  maintained  her  place 
among  the  family  of  nations,  and  became 
greater  and  more  powerful  than  ever  before, 
shows  the  inherent  virility  of  the  people 
whom  disaster  could  not  daunt.  Bela  the 
King  himself  showed  his  noblest  character- 
istics in  the  days  of  the  greatest  disasters.  He 
set  to  work  to  rebuild  the  nation,  to  bring 
artisans  from  other  countries,  to  found  new 
cities  and  give  special  privileges  to  the  older 
ones,  to  fortify  his  country  from  attacks  of 
the  enemies.  Within  five  years,  so  great  was 
the  recuperative  power  of  the  nation  that  it 
no  longer  feared  its  Mongol  invaders. 

Two  or  three  rulers  followed  the  succes- 
sion of  King  Bela  before  the  dynasty  of  Ar- 
pad  was  extinguished  and  the  Italian,  Charles 
Robert, the  founder  of  the  Hungarian  Anjous, 
H3 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

was  chosen  to  succeed.  Under  the  rule  of  the 
Anjous,  Hungary  again  prospered,  and  ad- 
vanced greatly  in  arts  and  sciences.  Even 
Venice  was  conquered  by  the  Hungarians, 
and  the  children  of  the  nobility  from  various 
countries  were  sent  to  Hungary  to  be  edu- 
cated, in  such  high  esteem  was  the  culture 
of  the  nation  held. 

One  of  the  kings  of  the  House  of  Anjou, 
Sigismund  by  name,  touches  modern  history 
in  many  points,  for  he  was  the  king  who 
offered  to  John  Huss,  the  Bohemian  patriot 
and  reformer,  safe-conduct  to  Constance, 
where  the  Reformed  faith  was  on  trial.  Bo- 
hemia had  now  become  a  Protestant  coun- 
try; almost  to  a  man  they  had  embraced  the 
tenets  of  Huss  when  the  Catholic  Church,  in 
1414,  called  the  Council  of  Constance  whose 
chief  object  was  to  destroy  the  new  heresy 
and  its  adherents. 

Sigismund,  who  at  this  time  was  not  only 
the  King  of  Bohemia  but  of  Hungary  as 
well,  in  spite  of  his  guaranty  of  safe-conduct, 
delivered  Huss  to  his  enemies,  and,  as  we 
have  seen  in  another  chapter,  the  great  re- 
144 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

former  became  the  great  martyr  of  the  Pro- 
testant faith.  Sigismund  had  to  suffer  for  his 
treachery,  for  Bohemia  made  war  upon  Hun- 
gary, while  the  Turks  were  planning  a  cam- 
paign against  the  southern  portion  of  his 
country  at  the  same  time. 

Servia,  Moldavia,  and  Bosnia,  the  three 
states  on  the  outskirts  of  Hungary,  acknow- 
ledged the  rule  of  Mohammed  I,  and  new 
perils  every  day  seemed  to  gather  around 
Hungary.  Sigismund,  in  spite  of  his  treach- 
ery, was  no  coward.  He  was  a  strategist  as 
well  as  a  brave  general.  He  conciliated  and 
conquered  the  Czechs,  the  inhabitants  of  Bo- 
hemia, and  conquered  the  Turks  finally,  after 
many  defeats,  and  became  the  Emperor  of 
Germany  and  the  King  of  Hungary  and  Bo- 
hemia. But  his  was  a  troubled  life  to  the 
very  end,  for  though  seemingly  victorious 
everywhere,  new  complications  constantly 
arose  and  new  enemies  appeared  to  take  the 
place  of  those  whom  he  conquered.  Tran- 
sylvania in  the  eastern  section  of  Hungary 
was  strongly  Protestant;  so  he  imposed  the 
most  burdensome  taxes  upon  this  part  of  his 
t45 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

domain,  until  the  people  could  stand  it  no 
longer  and  rose  against  their  tyrants,  killing 
the  nobility  and  burning  the  villages  in  every 
direction.  On  his  way  to  quell  this  uprising 
in  Transylvania,  Sigismund  met  the  great 
Victor  of  mankind,  whom  he  could  not  con- 
quer. "  It  is  rather  saddening  to  reflect," 
says  the  historian,  "  that  after  a  reign  of  fifty 
years,  his  funeral  procession  should  have 
been  lighted  by  the  glare  from  the  burning 
villages  of  Transylvania,  set  on  fire  by  her 
own  peasantry." 

We  now  come  to  the  Golden  Age  of  Hun- 
garian history,  with  the  advent  of  John  Hun- 
yadi  and  his  son  Matthias,  unless  indeed  we 
may  say  that  the  Golden  Age  of  Hungary  is 
in  this  twentieth  century,  for  probably  she 
has  never  been  so  prosperous,  or  her  people 
more  happy  and  progressive  than  at  the  pre- 
sent time.  But  in  these  prosaic  days  there 
is  little  that  stirs  the  blood  and  arouses  the 
imagination,  while  the  years  of  the  fifteenth 
century  were  essentially  years  of  supreme 
daring  and  of  martial  glory,  not  unmixed 
146 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

with  deeds  of  savage  cruelty  and  barbar- 
ism. 

In  those  days  the  poet,  the  artisan,  the 
merchant,  the  statesman,  had  not  come  to 
their  own;  the  successful  soldier  alone  was 
considered  the  greatest  of  mankind,  and  to 
him  every  knee  was  bowed.  On  this  account 
John  Hunyadi,  who  was  undoubtedly  the 
greatest  general  of  his  age,  came  to  the 
front,  though  his  family  was  comparatively 
obscure  and  unknown  until  he  made  the 
name  famous.  He  had  enemies  on  every 
side.  The  Turks  were  constantly  overrun- 
ning Hungary  from  the  east,  and  laying 
waste  its  vassal  states,  while  an  equally  per- 
sistent enemy  of  Hungary  at  this  time  was 
the  Austrian  power,  always  ready  from  its 
citadels  in  Vienna  to  take  advantage  of  Hun- 
gary's distresses,  and  by  sallying  forth  to  add 
to  her  troubles. 

The  appearance  of  John  Hunyadi  upon  the 
scene  was  most  dramatic.  The  Hungarian 
troops  were  fighting  the  Turks  near  the  for- 
tress of  Semendria,  when  a  knight  whom 
they  had  never  seen  before,  to  their  know- 
'47 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

ledge,  bearing  on  his  coat  of  arms  a  black 
raven  with  a  gold  ring  in  his  beak,  dashed 
into  the  fray.  He  seemed  to  be  in  all  parts 
of  the  field  of  battle  at  the  same  time.  The 
enemy  were  seized  with  panic,  and  the  Hun- 
garian troops  had  new  courage  put  into  their 
veins  by  the  unexpected  appearance.  "  The 
Turkish  general,"  we  are  told,  "  with  the 
remnant  of  his  army  fled  in  dismay,  and  from 
this  day  forward  the  name  of  the  Raven 
Knight  continued  to  be  the  terror  of  Turkish 
warriors."  We  need  not  say  that  this  mys- 
terious knight  was  John  Hunyadi.  He  seems 
to  have  had  many  qualities  in  common  with 
the  great  Napoleon,  who  more  than  three 
centuries  afterwards  astonished  the  world  by 
his  marvelous  manoeuvres,  his  sudden,  unex- 
pected appearances,  carrying  dismay  to  the 
enemy  and  new  courage  always  to  his  friends 
and  followers. 

But  not  only  have  the  Hungarian  people 
reason  to  consider  John  Hunyadi  as  their 
great  national  hero,  next  to  King  and  Saint 
Stephen  perhaps  the  noblest  Hungarian  of 
them  all,  but  the  whole  Christian  world  is 
148 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

indebted  to  him,  and  his  name  should  be 
familiar  to  every  schoolboy,  for  he  it  was, 
more  than  any  other,  who  broke  the  power 
of  the  Turk  in  southeastern  Europe,  and  pre- 
vented the  Moslem  hordes  from  overrunning 
every  Christian  land. 

Moreover,  he  had  to  fight  his  battles  al- 
most alone.  The  other  powers  of  Europe, 
though  wealth}^  in  promises,  were  very  poor 
in  performance,  and  sent  but  few  troops  to 
Hunyadi's  aid.  Poland,  which  was  then 
united  to  Hungary  under  the  same  king, 
was  the  only  exception  to  this  rule.  To  be 
sure,  it  cannot  be  said  that  Hunyadi  never 
lost  a  battle  or  suffered  a  defeat.  He  was 
sometimes  in  sore  straits,  but  he  was  made 
of  the  stuff  that  never  knew  when  he  was 
defeated,  and  in  good  fortune  and  bad  he 
continued  to  pound  away  at  the  Turkish 
armies,  using  all  his  military  genius  and 
strategy,  as  well  as  his  almost  superhuman 
courage,  to  conquer  the  enemy  which  all 
Europe  feared  and  none  save  him  dared 
attack. 

At  last  came  the  decisive  battle  near  Bel- 
149 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

grade,  the  present  capital  of  Servia,  in  1456. 
The  Turks  had  marshaled  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  men  to  attack  this  important 
and  strategic  fortress.  Hunyadi  had  but 
fifteen  thousand  of  his  own  troops,  supple- 
mented by  sixty  thousand  Crusaders,  who 
were  armed  with  scythes  and  pole-axes  only, 
and  who  "  were  led  by  the  sound  of  bells  in- 
stead of  words  of  military  command."  One 
would  not  think  that  such  an  army  would  be 
more  effective  than  the  troops  that  marched 
about  the  camp  of  Midian  with  pitchers  and 
torches;  but  their  zeal  and  fanaticism  gave 
each  of  the  Crusaders  the  strength  of  ten, 
and,  under  the  unparalleled  leadership  of 
Hunyadi,  they  put  to  rout  the  vastly  superior 
number  of  Turks,  and  saved  Europe  forever 
from  the  menace  of  Mohammedanism. 

But  the  battle  of  Belgrade  was  his  last. 
Suddenly  as  the  Raven  Knight  came  upon 
the  field,  so  suddenly  he  died  in  the  hour  of 
victory.  He  never  knew  of  the  Te  Deums 
that  were  sung  throughout  Europe,  or  of  the 
grateful  millions  that  blessed  his  name  for 
relieving  them  from  the  fear  of  the  Turk, 

150 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

which  had  so  long  been  an  incubus  upon 
the  activities  and  progress  of  all  Europe. 

It  is  not  every  great  man  who  has  a  great 
son  to  succeed  him,  but  Hunyadi  was  fortu- 
nate in  this  respect,  as  in  so  many  others, 
and  his  son  Matthias,  because  of  the  great 
deeds  of  his  father,  was  raised  to  the  Hun- 
garian throne  by  the  will  of  the  people,  and 
became,  the  historians  tell  us,  the  greatest 
king  of  whom  Hungary  can  boast;  at  least 
he  divides  this  honor  with  St.  Stephen.  He 
was  a  great  soldier,  like  his  father,  from  whom 
he  inherited  his  abilities  as  a  strategist  and  a 
general,  and  he  combined  with  these  states- 
manship of  a  rare  quality,  which  his  father, 
who  was  never  raised  to  the  kingly  throne, 
did  not  have  a  chance  to  exhibit. 

Many  interesting  stories  are  told  of  Mat- 
thias, any  one  of  which  would  furnish  mate- 
rial for  an  interesting  romance.  A  German 
bully,  by  the  name  of  Holubar,  on  one  occa- 
sion came  to  Buda,  the  capital  of  Hungary. 
He  was  so  enormous  in  size,  and  his  strength 
so  far  eclipsed  that  of  all  his  combatants,  that 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

he  was  thought  to  be  absolutely  invincible 
in  the  tournaments ;  but  Matthias,  though  he 
was  king,  was  not  afraid  of  him,  and  did  not 
think  he  was  demeaning  himself  to  meet  him 
in  single  combat.  Holubar  was  afraid  that 
he  might  in  some  way  harm  the  King,  and 
so  expose  himself  to  danger  from  the  popu- 
lace, and  for  a  long  time  would  not  meet  the 
King  in  combat;  and  when  he  did  consent, 
he  planned  to  use  little  of  his  great  strength, 
but  pretend  to  be  overcome  by  the  King's 
first  attack.  The  King  heard  of  this  determin- 
ation, and  there  vowed  "  By  all  the  saints, 
that  if  he  perceived  Holubar  doing  this,  he 
would  have  him  executed,  and  at  the  same 
time  make  him  swear  that  he  would  fight 
with  him  as  if  he  were  the  knight's  mortal 
enemy."  "  The  contest  took  place  in  the 
presence  of  many  thousands,"  we  are  told, 
"and  many  doubted  the  King's  success,  com- 
paring the  German  giant  with  the  middle- 
sized  Matthias.  The  two  combatants  rushed 
at  each  other  with  tremendous  thrusts;  the 
steeled  muscles  of  the  King  proved  supe- 
rior to  the  heavy  bulk  of  his  adversary,  who 
152. 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

reeled  from  his  horse,  struck  by  a  heavy 
blow  on  the  forehead,  and  lay  with  his  arm 
broken,  and  fainting  on  the  ground.  .  .  . 
The  King,  having  humiliated  the  bragging 
foreigner,  sent  him  away  with  presents  of 
horses,  splendid  dresses,  and  a  large  purse 
of  money."  It  can  be  imagined  that  in  those 
days,  when  personal  prowess  counted  for 
so  much,  the  King's  combat  with  Holubar 
made  him  the  idol  of  his  nation. 

Matthias  seems  to  have  disdained  no  hard- 
ship and  to  have  been  daunted  by  no  peril. 
We  are  told  that  when  fighting  the  Aus- 
trians  at  the  siege  of  Vienna  in  1485,  he  stole 
into  the  city  in  disguise.  Made  up  for  a  coun- 
tryman, with  his  basket  of  butter  and  eggs, 
he  walked  through  the  city,  selling  his'eggs 
and  at  the  same  time  finding  out  all  the  weak 
spots  in  the  fortifications.  He  talked  inti- 
mately with  the  common  people.  He  heard 
what  the  military  men  were  planning  for  the 
defense  of  the  city,  and  after  strolling  out 
again  with  his  empty  basket,  he  laid  his 
plans  for  the  capture  of  the  city,  which  were 
entirely  successful. 

'53 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

Though  his  father  had  broken  the  power 
of  the  Turks,  they  were  not  as  yet  wholly 
driven  out  of  Europe,  and  he  had  many  a 
battle  with  the  Turkish  forces  in  the  eastern 
part  of  his  domain.  Learning  a  lesson  from 
his  successful  experience  with  the  Austrians 
before  Vienna,  he  tried  the  same  ruse  on  the 
Turkish  camp,  and,  putting  on  the  garments 
of  a  Turk,  he  went  boldly  into  their  camp 
to  sell  butter  and  eggs  to  them  as  well.  He 
found  the  tent  of  the  Sultan,  and  setting  up 
his  temporary  market  stayed  there  for  a  long 
time,  nominally  selling  provisions,  but  really 
spying  upon  the  camp  and  its  defenses.  The 
next  day,  when  he  returned  to  his  own 
camp,  he  sent  the  Sultan  the  following  let- 
ter: "Thou  guardest  thy  camp  badly,  Em- 
peror, and  thou  art  thyself  badly  guarded. 
For  yesterday  I  sat,  even  from  morn  until 
night,  near  thy  tent,  selling  provisions.  And 
lest  thou  doubtest  my  words,  I  will  tell  thee 
now  what  was  served  on  thy  table."  It  is 
said  that  the  Sultan  was  so  alarmed  by  this 
note,  and  so  convinced  of  the  important 
knowledge  which  Matthias  must  have  ob- 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

tained,  that  he  at  once  broke  camp,  turned 
his  back  on  Hungary,  and  sought  the  safer 
seclusion  of  his  own  country. 

Like  his  father,  Matthias  had  many  Napo- 
leonic qualities.  The  guards  never  knew 
where  he  would  turn  up  next;  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  night,  in  the  early  dawn,  and  at 
most  unexpected  times  and  places  he  might 
be  seen,  while  in  the  midst  of  battle,  when 
the  cannon  were  belching  out  their  loud- 
mouthed cries  and  the  musketry  were  rat- 
tling on  every  side,  he  seemed  to  be  able  to 
sleep  in  perfect  calm. 

Matthias  was  great  not  only  as  a  general 
and  a  warrior,  but  as  a  statesman  and  a  ruler. 
It  was  necessary,  perhaps,  in  those  days  that 
he  should  prove  his  prowess  as  a  warrior  and 
as  a  man  of  tremendous  personal  bravery  and 
endurance  before  he  could  command  full  re- 
spect for  his  intellectual  and  moral  powers. 
Those  were  the  days,  as  we  have  said,  when 
strength  and  valor  reigned  supreme.  One  of 
his  captains,  for  instance,  whom  he  raised 
from  an  obscure  place  to  a  prominent  com- 
mand, Kinizsy  by  name,  we  are  told,  was 
'55 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

able  to  foot  it  through  the  national  dance, 
holding  the  dead  body  of  a  full-grown  Turk 
in  his  right  hand,  another  in  his  left  hand, 
and  a  third  between  his  teeth.  Horrible  as 
such  a  spectacle  would  seem  to  a  modern 
audience,  in  those  ruder  days  it  represented 
what  was  considered  the  crowning  glory  of 
personal  strength  and  courage. 

Not  many  great  generals  have  made  great 
kings  or  presidents,  but  this  was  an  honor 
which  can  fairly  be  ascribed  to  Matthias,  that 
he  was  as  great  on  the  throne  as  in  the  camp. 
The  glory  and  splendor  of  his  court  may  be 
indicated  in  some  measure  by  the  embassies 
which  he  sent  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fif- 
teenth century  to  Charles  VIII  of  France. 
He  collected  three  hundred  horses,  all  of 
which  were  mated  in  color  and  size,  on  each 
of  which  sat  a  young  man  clothed  in  purple 
velvet.  Long  gold  chains  dangled  from  the 
sides  of  these  attendants,  and  a  crown  of 
pearls  was  placed  upon  each  head  as  they 
entered  the  cities  through  which  they  passed, 
while  they  took  to  the  French  king  splendid 
horses,  harnesses,  robes  richly  embroidered, 
'56 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

and  many  ornaments  of  gold  and  silver,  all 
presents  worthy  of  a  great  king  to  a  great 
king. 

Almost  barbaric  splendor  was  found  in  his 
palace  at  the  capital  city,  Buda.  Magnificent 
objects  of  art,  costly  and  beautiful  tapestries, 
precious  ^stones,  statues,  and  antique  gems 
made  this  palace  the  most  renowned  of  any 
in  Europe.  He  had  several  royal  residences, 
"  which,"  we  are  told,  "  appeared  like  real 
fairy  castles,  with  their  hanging-gardens, 
fountains,  fish-ponds,  aviaries,  game-parks, 
small  pleasure-houses,  arbors,  and  statues." 

Unfortunately,  Matthias  left  no  son  to  suc- 
ceed him.  The  glory  of  his  house  died  with 
him,  and  the  magnificent  treasures  that  he 
had  collected,  and  which  made  Hungary  fa- 
mous the  world  around,  were  soon  scattered 
throughout  Europe,  for  the  rulers  who  suc- 
ceeded Matthias  were  as  feeble  as  he  and 
his  father  had  been  powerful. 

The   years    that   followed   were,  indeed, 

sad   ones  for    Hungary.    Intrigue    followed 

intrigue,  weak  ruler  succeeded  weak  ruler. 

The  country  went  into  a  steady  and  disastrous 

'57 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

decline.  The  Turks  again  menaced  her  fron- 
tiers, until,  in  the  disastrous  battle  of  Mohacs, 
only  a  little  more  than  a  generation  after  the 
death  of  Matthias,  the  Hungarian  army  was 
defeated  and  almost  annihilated  by  the  Sul- 
tan Solyman,  with  an  army  of  three  hundred 
thousand  Turks.  Even  Buda  the  capital  was 
captured,  and  it  seemed  as  though  all  that 
had  been  gained  by  the  bravery  and  martial 
prowess  of  Hunyadi  and  Matthias  was  lost. 

For  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  the  Turk- 
ish flag  waved  over  the  battlements  of  the 
capital  of  Hungary.  The  nation  was  almost 
wiped  off  the  earth.  No  capable  general  or 
ruler  arose  during  these  years,  though  Hun- 
gary showed  in  many  a  battle  that  courage 
and  self-sacrifice  and  patriotism  still  found 
lodgment  in  the  hearts  of  the  common  people. 
The  Turks  became  so  bold  that  they  actually 
attacked  the  city  of  Vienna,  and  it  looked 
once  more  as  though  they  would  overrun 
Europe.  Again  the  Hungarians  were  called 
upon  to  defend  the  liberties  of  the  country 
and  the  cause  of  Christianity  in  many  nations, 

158 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

and  though  no  great  leader  arose  to  com- 
mand their  forces,  individual  captains  and 
people  who  were  willing  to  lay  down  their 
lives  for  the  cause  of  country  and  Christian- 
ity always  prevented  the  Turks  from  gain- 
ing the  complete  triumph  which  they  de- 
sired, and  sweeping  over  the  unprotected 
countries  to  the  west.  It  would  take  many 
pages  to  tell  of  the  heroic  deeds  that  strewed 
the  pages  of  history  in  this  century  and  a 
half  of  national  decline. 

Finally  the  last  great  undertaking  of  the 
Moslems  was  begun,  and  the  Sultan,  Mo- 
hammed IV,  with  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  men  and  three  hundred  cannon, 
in  the  spring  of  1683  appeared  under  the 
walls  of  Vienna;  but  Providence  raised  up 
a  commander  for  the  Christian  forces,  in 
John  Sobieski,  King  of  Poland,  of  whom  we 
have  learned  in  another  chapter.  The  Turk- 
ish troops  were  defeated  with  tremendous 
slaughter,  leaving  sixty  thousand  men  dead 
upon  the  field.  "  This  was  the  last  great  cam- 
paign undertaken  by  the  Osmanlis  against 
the  Western  world.  They  could  never  re- 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

cuperate  from  the  effects  of  the  defeat  then 
suffered,  and  the  great  calamity  which  befell 
the  Turkish  power  rendered  it  at  length  pos- 
sible for  Hungary,  the  bulwark  of  Christian- 
ity, which  had  been  the  scene  of  continual 
war  during  a  century  and  a  half,  to  regain 
her  liberty." 

It  can  be  imagined  that  the  condition  of 
Hungary,  after  this  century  and  a  half  of  mis- 
rule and  defeat,  overrun  by  hordes  of  Turk- 
ish soldiers,  distracted  by  civil  dissensions 
at  home  and  the  constant  battles  with  sav- 
age foes  from  abroad,  was  pitiable  indeed. 
"While  the  Moors,"  we  are  told,  "  had  im- 
mortalized their  name  by  memorials  of  a 
grand  civilization,  leaving  behind  them  flour- 
ishing and  wealthy  cities,  numerous  works  of 
art  and  marvels  of  architecture,  the  Turks  left 
Hungary  ruined  and  devastated.  Through- 
out the  whole  territory  of  the  reconquered 
country  only  a  few  miserable  villages  could 
be  met  here  and  there,  population  had  sunk 
to  the  lowest  ebb,  endless  swamps  covered 
the  fertile  soil  of  the  once  flourishing  Alfold, 
and  the  genius  of  the  Hungarian  nation  had 
1 60 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

now  to  engage  in  the  arduous  labor  of  sub- 
duing, by  the  arts  of  peace  and  civilization, 
the  sterile  waste  they  had  regained  at  last  by 
their  bravery  and  endurance.  The  work,  hard 
as  it  was,  was  done.  For  a  century  and  a 
half  the  severe  task  of  colonizing  and  civil- 
izing has  been  going  on  bravely,  until  finally 
that  tract  of  land,  which  they  recovered  from 
the  Turks  an  uninhabited  desert,  has  grown 
to  be  populous,  flourishing,  and  one  of  the 
richest  granaries  of  Europe." 

A  new  chapter  in  the  history  of  Hungary 
was  opened  when,  after  the  defeats  of  Bel- 
grade and  Mohacs,  the  Hungarians  were 
obliged  to  seek  an  alliance  with  a  foreign 
power.  Naturally  they  turned  to  the  great 
House  of  Hapsburg,  which  ruled  at  that  time 
Austria,  Germany,  the  Netherlands,  and 
Spain,  together  with  Naples,  Sicily,  and 
Sardinia.  It  was  by  far  the  greatest  nation 
of  the  world,  but  the  ever-present  menace  of 
the  Turks  threw  Hungary  into  the  arms  of 
the  Austrians,  whose  alliance  for  centuries 
was  scarcely  less  disastrous  than  would  have 
161 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

been  an  alliance  with  the  Turks.  The  Turks 
were  particularly  averse  to  an  extension  of 
the  power  of  Austria,  and  constantly  made 
incursions  into  Hungary,  for  the  sake  of  weak- 
ening not  only  Hungary  herself,  but  through 
her  the  Hapsburg  Dynasty.  The  poor  country 
was,  indeed,  between  the  upper  and  the  nether 
millstone. 

It  is  scarcely  worth  while,  in  this  brief  sum- 
mary, to  dwell  long  upon  these  unhappy  years. 
There  was  but  one  bright  spot  within  the 
former  domains  of  Hungary,  and  that  was  in 
the  far  eastern  section,  called  Transylvania. 
The  hardy  people  of  this  region  had  embraced, 
more  largely  than  any  other  part  of  Hungary, 
the  Reformed  religion.  They  were  led  by 
brave  and  powerful  dukes.  Even  in  the  dark- 
est days  they  never  yielded  wholly  to  the 
power  of  Turk  or  German,  but  the  independ- 
ence of  Transylvania  was  maintained  when 
all  else  seemed  lost.  In  the  meantime  the 
Hungarian  Protestants,  who  at  one  time  were 
largely  in  the  majority,  were  harried  by  the 
Austrian  tyrants,  and  Transylvania  alone 
seemed  to  be  a  bulwark  for  the  Reformed 
162 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

faith.  The  ancient  constitution  of  Hungary 
was  entirely  ignored.  Foreign  soldiery  from 
many  countries  were  quartered  upon  the  poor 
people,  who  were  taxed  to  death  to  pay  their 
oppressors.  At  last  the  Hungarian  constitution 
was  actually  abolished,  and  Hungary  became 
a  province  of  Austria. 

All  Europe,  however,  began  at  last  to  re- 
ceive new  ideas.  The  common  people  were 
coming  to  their  own.  The  French  Revolu- 
tion was  symptomatic  of  the  unrest  of  every 
European  country.  Hungary  shared  in  the 
reaction  against  the  privileged  classes,  though 
their  authority  was  much  more  absolute,  and 
the  power  of  the  people  at  this  time,  after 
centuries  of  disaster,  less  able  to  cope  with 
the  nobility  than  in  France. 

During  all  these  years,  until  1780,  the 
Austrian  kings  had  shown  enough  defer- 
ence to  Hungarian  sentiment  to  be  crowned 
with  the  sacred  crown  of  St.  Stephen.  No 
other  piece  of  the  jeweler's  art  was  probably 
ever  so  reverenced  as  this  crown.  For  hun- 
dreds of  years,  to  the  present  day,  the  Hun- 
garians have  regarded  it  as  the  very  symbol  of 
163 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

their  national  existence.  Only  once  in  his  life- 
time was  the  king  allowed  to  wear  it,  and  on 
that  occasion  he  was  obliged  by  the  constitu- 
tion to  swear  fealty  to  the  people  over  whom 
he  was  to  reign.  In  other  countries  the  people 
swear  allegiance  to  the  king;  in  Hungary  the 
king  swears  allegiance  to  the  people. 

Though  the  Austrian  rulers  forgot  their 
vows  and  disregarded  their  oaths,  yet  until 
the  time  of  Maria  Theresa  they  all  went 
through  the  form  of  being  crowned  with  the 
tiara  of  St.  Stephen,  and  of  promising  fealty 
and  allegiance  to  the  Hungarian  people. 
Maria  Theresa's  son,  however,  Joseph  II,  who 
became  king  in  1780,  refused  to  be  crowned. 
He  was  a  far  better  man  than  those  who  had 
preceded  him,  and  he  evidently  had  conscien- 
tious scruples  about  taking  an  oath  which  he 
did  not  mean  to  observe  and  which  the  former 
kings  had  utterly  ignored.  He  introduced 
many  wise  reforms,  and  evidently  desired  to 
do  his  best  for  his  people;  but  his  refusal  to 
be  crowned  displeased  them,  and  they  never 
called  him  their  crowned  king,  but  simply  the 
"hatted  king." 

164 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

Together  with  his  wise  measures  and  the 
greatly  needed  reforms  in  church  and  state 
which  he  advocated,  he  proposed  many  fool- 
ish laws,  which  simply  irritated  the  people 
and  destroyed  the  effect  of  his  wise  progres- 
siveness.  One  of  these  foolish  regulations, 
which  might  be  compared  to  cutting  off  the 
top-knots  of  the  Koreans,  —  an  act  which  so 
exasperated  them  in  the  early  days  of  Japan- 
ese rule,  —  was  that  the  dead,  instead  of  be- 
ing placed  in  coffins,  should  be  sewed  up 
in  sacks  and  thus  buried,  in  order  that  the 
boards  of  which  coffins  had  been  made  might 
be  saved,  and  the  forests  economized  for 
other  purposes  than  burying  the  dead.  This 
foolish  piece  of  penny-wise  economy,  to- 
gether with  many  other  similar  edicts,  cost 
the  King  his  popularity  among  the  people; 
but  more  especially  when  he  commanded 
them  to  drop  their  loved  Hungarian  tongue 
and  adopt  German  as  their  national  language 
did  they  rise  up  in  their  impotent  wrath,  for 
they  were  not  strong  enough  to  overthrow 
him. 

Other  wicked  and  weak  rulers  followed 
165 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

Joseph  II,  and  it  seemed  as  though  the 
troubles  of  this  devoted  country  would  never 
come  to  an  end;  but  a  people  so  virile  could 
not  be  absolutely  crushed.  Misfortune  was. 
powerless  to  destroy  their  inborn  love  of 
liberty,  and  to  Stephen  Szechenyi  must  be 
accorded  the  name  of  the  Regenerator  of 
Hungary.  He  gave  his  money  freely,  and 
kindled  like  desire  on  the  part  of  other  men  of 
wealth  to  arouse  the  national  spirit  to  preserve 
the  national  language  and  to  make  Hungary 
again  a  centre  of  learning  and  of  science. 
He  was  the  first  of  the  great  lords  who  dared 
to  speak  in  Parliament  in  his  own  native 
tongue,  where  Latin  had  hitherto  been  used. 
His  influence  was  enormous,  and  from  the 
day  he  took  his  place  in  the  Hungarian  Diet 
in  1825,  the  revival  of  the  Hungarian  national 
spirit  may  be  said  to  have  dated.  Yet  Sze- 
chenyi was  a  conservative  and  not  a  radical, 
in  spite  of  his  innovations,  and  it  required  a 
more  daring  spirit  still  to  complete  the  regen- 
eration of  Hungary. 

Such  a  man  was  found  in  Louis  Kossuth, 
a  man  who  sprung  from  the  people  to  tell 

1 66 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

them  of  their  rights,  and  to  lead  them  to  final 
victory  in  achieving  them.  Szechenyi  was 
too  conservative  for  him  to  follow,  for  "Lib- 
erty, Equality,  Fraternity,"  the  watchwords 
of  the  French  Revolution,  were  the  mottoes 
of  this  new  apostle  of  liberty.  There  are  not 
a  few  Americans  still  living  who  remember 
the  wonderful  eloquence  of  Louis  Kossuth. 
Probably  no  foreigner  ever  visited  this  coun- 
try who  aroused  his  audiences  to  such  a  pitch 
of  enthusiasm  as  did  this  Hungarian  exile. 
It  may  not  be  known  to  many,  however,  that 
he  gained  his  wonderful  command  of  the 
English  language,  and  his  power  to  move 
audiences  in  this  country  and  in  Great  Britain 
by  his  persuasive  eloquence,  while  he  was  in 
a  Hungarian  prison,  for  the  revolution  which 
he  planned  and  conducted  proved  at  first  to 
be  a  failure.  The  reactionary  powers  were 
too  strong  for  him.  To  be  sure,  his  troops 
won  many  victories,  especially  under  the  lead 
of  Gorgei,  and  even  Buda,  the  capital,  was 
taken  from  the  Austrian  troops;  but  at  last 
Austria  persuaded  Russia  to  come  to  her  help, 
and  two  hundred  thousand  Cossacks  crossed 
167 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

the  borders  of  Hungary  and  with  nearly  half 
as  many  Austrians  attacked  and  finally  routed 
the  Hungarian  army,  exhausted  as  it  had 
become  in  its  many  encounters  with  the 
Croatians  and  Slavs.  Kossuth  fled  to  Tur- 
key and  afterwards  visited  England  and  the 
United  States,  for  Hungary  at  this  juncture 
seemed  to  be  completely  under  the  power  of 
Austria,  her  old-time  ally,  who  proved  to  be 
her  hardest  taskmaster. 

But  Kossuth  had  not  failed.  Though  de- 
feated, the  cause  for  which  he  strove  was  not 
killed.  The  spirit  of  the  people  was  aroused. 
Their  love  of  freedom  could  not  be  quenched, 
and  at  length  the  Austrian  Government  found 
that  its  best  plan  was  to  conciliate  rather  than 
to  antagonize  so  powerful  and  patriotic  a 
people.  One  by  one  their  rights  and  privi- 
leges were  restored  to  them.  In  1861  the 
old  constitution  was  given  back  to  Hungary, 
and  the  Hungarian  legislature  assembled 
once  more  in  its  own  capital.  This  legis- 
lature demanded  the  fullest  autonomy  for 
Hungary,  a  demand  which  was  not  at  once 
acceded  to;  but  when  Austrian  troubles  in- 
168 


Hungary,  the  Land  of  the  Brave 

creased,  and  the  Austrians  were  defeated  at 
Sadowa  by  Prussia,  they  concluded  that  it 
was  best  to  grant  to  Hungary  all  that  the 
Hungarians  demanded  rather  than  to  wit- 
ness a  further  dismemberment  of  their  em- 
pire. In  June,  1868,  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  I 
was  crowned  King  of  Hungary,  and  the  two 
nations,  Austria  and  Hungary,  on  an  equal 
footing  began  their  united  career.  "  We  have 
no  Emperor,"  proudly  say  the  Hungarians  5 
"  the  Austrians  have  an  Emperor,  and  we  have 
a  King;  but  our  King  swears  allegiance  to 
his  people  and  not  the  people  to  the  King." 
Though  there  has  been  much  friction  at 
times,  and  many  hot  debates  and  scenes  of 
violence  in  the  Hungarian  parliament,  this 
dual  arrangement  has  so  far  worked  for  the 
benefit  of  Hungary.  It  will  last,  doubtless, 
so  long  and  only  so  long  as  it  proves  to  be 
for  the  substantial  benefit  of  a  country  which, 
amid  all  its  vicissitudes  for  a  thousand  years, 
has  shown  itself  to  be  indomitable  in  its  love 
for  liberty,  in  its  hatred  of  oppression,  and 
in  its  purpose,  even  in  its  darkest  days,  to 
remain  a  free  and  independent  nation. 


XI 


HUNGARY THE  AMERICA  OF  THE  OLD 

WORLD 

Points  of  Resemblance  —  The  Cosmopolitan  Make-up  of 
Hungary  —  The  Assimilative  Powers  of  Hungarians  —  The 
Irresistible  Contagion  of  the  Magyar — The  Variety  of  Climate 
and  Production — The  Constant  Tide  of  Emigration  — The 
Contrast  between  Magyar  and  Slav  —  The  Hungarian  Noble 

—  The  Magnates — The  Position  of  Women  —  "I  kiss  your 
Hand"  —  Love  of  Education  —  Illiteracy  of  Eastern  Church 

—  Higher  Education  —  Hungary's  Great  Poet — Her  Novel- 
ists—  The  Newspaper  of  Hungary — Hospitable  to  Foreign- 
ers—  A  Support  of  the  Hapsburg  Dynasty — The  Eloquent 
Hungarian  —  Hungary's  Great  Resources. 

IN  studying  the  characteristics  of  the  Hun- 
garians, both  from  the  printed  page  and  by 
personal  intercourse  with  them  in  their  own 
land,  I  have  been  struck  with  their  many 
points  of  resemblance  to  Americans.  If  there 
is  any  country  which  may  be  called  "  The 
America  of  the  Old  World,"  it  is  that  com- 
pact kingdom  which  lies  in  the  heart  of  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Monarchy.  The  cosmo- 
politan make-up  of  the  people  is  like  Amer- 
ica. The  Magyars  themselves,  the  true  Hun- 
garians, are  a  mixed  race  like  our  own,  and 
170 


The  America  of  the  Old  World 

the  nation  has  inherited  the  best  blood  of 
many  peoples  since  their  early  ancestors 
came  down  from  the  Asiatic  plateaus  of  the 
Ural  Mountains,  crossed  the  steppes  of  Rus- 
sia, and  drove  out  or  assimilated  the  peoples 
whom  they  found  on  the  banks  of  the  fair 
Danube. 

In  their  assimilative  powers,  too,  the  Hun- 
garians have  shown  their  likeness  to  Amer- 
ica, or,  since  they  are  the  older  nation, 
perhaps  we  should  say  that  America,  in 
absorbing  so  many  races,  making  of  all  of 
them  good  Americans,  has  shown  its  like- 
ness to  Hungary.  The  Slavs  are  of  many 
varieties.  Slovaks,  Slovenians,  Ruthenians, 
Croats,  and  Servians  are  found  within  the 
borders  of  the  crown  lands  of  Hungary. 
Though  some  of  these  races  are  making  a 
brave  fight  to  maintain  their  individuality, 
and  though  the  racial  consciousness  has  been 
awakened  in  many  quarters  of  late  years,  yet 
of  all  the  many  peoples  within  the  borders 
of  Austria-Hungary,  the  Magyars  show  the 
greatest  assimilative  qualities.  Their  lan- 
guage is  the  dominant  one.  They  are  fore- 
171 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

most  in  politics  and  the  industries  of  the 
country,  and  multitudes  who  were  not  born 
to  the  Magyar  speech  use  that  tongue  in  all 
the  daily  transactions  of  life,  just  as  Ger- 
mans, Scandinavians,  Italians,  and  Greeks 
after  a  little  speak  only  English  when  they 
come  to  America.  Even  the  Jews  often  adopt 
Magyar  Christian  names,  to  show  their  fealty 
to  the  dominant  race  of  Hungary,  and  in 
many  quarters  the  German  is  resented  as  un- 
patriotic, and  French  and  English  are  much 
preferred  to  the  language  of  the  Teutons. 

Says  a  distinguished  writer:  "It  is  agreed 
by  many  foreigners  living  in  Hungary  that 
there  is  a  contagion  about  the  nationalist  as- 
piration which  is  almost  irresistible.  In  no 
country  in  the  world  are  there  to  be  seen  so 
many  divers  races  making  one  (despite  local 
jealousies)  in  their  support  of  Hungarian 
national  tradition,  and  all  are  as  vehement  in 
their  advocacy  of  Hungarian  independence 
as  the  Magyars  themselves.  Jews  and  Ger- 
mans swell  with  patriotic  pride  over  their 
ancient  constitution,  and  more  than  one  in- 
stance could  be  cited  of  Hungarian  patriots 
172 


The  America  of  the  Old  World 

(some  well  known  as  the  exponents  of  the 
Magyars  to  Europe)  who  have  not  one  drop 
of  Magyar  blood.  The  contagion,  the  attrac- 
tion, are  in  the  Magyar  people  themselves, 
and  surely  in  this  magic  quality  lies  the  se- 
cret of  their  success." 

In  the  variety  of  its  climate  and  its  pro- 
ductions, Hungary  bears  some  relation  to 
America.  Though  comparatively  small  when 
placed  side  by  side  with  the  nation  that 
stretches  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  it 
is  yet  larger  than  Great  Britain,  Italy,  or 
Austria,  and  ranks  seventh  among  the  nations 
of  Europe  in  the  number  of  square  miles.  In 
the  varieties  of  climate  found  within  its  bor- 
ders, it  more  resembles  America  than  in  the 
extent  of  its  territory;  for  the  traveler  can 
go  in  a  comparatively  few  hours  from  the 
sub-tropical  regions  of  Dalmatia,  like  Ragusa 
and  Abbazia,  to  the  sub-Arctic  regions  of 
the  high  Carpathians,  and  in  that  journey  he 
will  find  almost  every  kind  of  vegetation 
that  grows  in  the  United  States,  from  the 
orange  and  lemon  of  Florida  to  the  hard  "A 
No.  i  "  wheat  of  the  Northwest. 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

Perhaps  because  of  these  similarities  be- 
tween the  two  countries,  America  of  late 
years  has  proved  to  be  a  great  magnet,  draw- 
ing the  Hungarian  peoples  from  their  Alf old, 
or  prairies,  to  the  virgin  prairies  of  the  new 
world.  In  1906,  168,000  Hungarians  landed 
in  America;  and  though  the  figures  vary  ac- 
cording to  the  prosperity  (or  lack  of  pro- 
sperity) in  the  two  countries,  yet  doubtless 
for  many  years  to  come  there  will  be  a  con- 
stant outflow  of  hardy  Hungarians  to  the  coun- 
try in  the  new  world,  in  which  they  will  find 
so  many  characteristics  that  will  remind  them 
of  their  old  home.  A  few  years  ago  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Hungary  became  quite  alarmed 
at  the  steady  increase  of  emigration  to  Amer- 
ica, and  tried  in  various  ways  to  stem  the 
tide.  They  forbade  lectures  concerning  the 
new  world,  and  advertisement  of  the  steam- 
ship companies  which  carried  the  emigrants. 
These  efforts  doubtless  succeeded  in  keep- 
ing at  home  many  thousands,  but  will  scarcely 
affect,  to  any  considerable  extent,  or  for  any 
great  length  of  time,  the  mighty  stream  of 
emigration. 

174 


The  America  of  the  Old  World 

The  leading  characteristics  of  the  Magyars 
are  brought  out  in  striking  contrast  when  we 
consider  them  in  relation  to  the  people  of 
other  races  with  whom  they  live  side  by  side. 
For  the  most  part  these  are  Slavs,  and  the  dif- 
ference between  the  Slavic  temperament  and 
the  Magyar  is  noticeable  even  to  the  hasty 
traveler.  Each  race  has  its  virtues  and  each 
its  easily  besetting  sins.  Each,  in  a  measure, 
balances  and  supplements  the  other;  and  if 
they  could  be  induced  to  live  in  harmony  and 
peace,  and  could  sink  their  racial  animosities, 
they  would  form,  perhaps,  the  strongest  com- 
bination in  all  Europe. 

The  Magyars  are  virile  and  strong,  even 
with  the  substratum  of  ferociousness,  as  their 
early  history  shows  before  they  were  tamed 
by  the  gentler  ways  of  modern  civilization. 
The  Slavs  are  dreamy  and  imaginative.  The 
Magyars  were  nomads,  originally,  who  pas- 
tured great  flocks  and  herds;  while  the  Slavs 
were  agriculturists,  and  tilled  the  ground 
where  they  made  their  permanent  homes. 
The  Magyar  nature  is  aristocratic,  and  the 
"great  nobles"  or  "Magnates,"  as  they  are 
'75 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

called,  from  the  earliest  days  of  their  history 
down  to  the  present  time  have  exerted  a  tre- 
mendous influence  upon  the  government  of 
the  state  and  its  social  organizations.  The 
Slavs  are  far  more  democratic  by  nature. 
They  have  resented  the  trammels  of  a  strong 
government,  which  the  Hungarians  have  al- 
ways been  willing  to  endure,  provided  that 
government  was  their  own,  and  provided 
they  did  not  have  to  bow  the  knee  to  a  foreign 
power.  For  this  reason  the  Slavs  of  Hun- 
gary have  always  been  at  a  disadvantage, 
politically,  and  have  lived  under  the  shadow 
of  the  stronger  and  more  warlike  race  that  be- 
lieved in  a  strong  and  centralized  government. 
Throughout  all  its  history,  in  its  evil  days 
and  its  prosperous  days,  in  its  many  disasters 
brought  upon  it  by  foes  within  and  foes  with- 
out, Hungary  has  maintained  its  individuality. 
It  is  characteristic  of  the  people  that  in  the  an- 
cient times  a  bloody  sword  was  sent  around 
as  a  token  of  war,  and  the  levy  in  the  time 
of  the  great  King  Matthias  called  for  one  in 
twenty  to  serve  the  country  in  the  army, 
though  often  a  far  larger  proportion  were 
176 


The  America  of  the"  Old  World 

drafted  in  times  of  war.  The  word  "bus" 
means  twenty,  and  because  one  in  twenty 
was  drafted,  we  have  our  modern  word 
"  hussars,"  which  has  come  down  to  us  from 
the  days  of  the  great  Hungarian  King. 

Thus,  while  the  other  races  of  Hungary 
are  fragments  of  a  greater  whole,  Hungary 
is  and  always  has  been,  with  the  exception 
of  some  brief  interregnums  in  its  history,  a 
complete  and  independent  nation.  Its  power 
of  recuperation  from  disaster  has  been  re- 
markable. In  the  Middle  Ages  the  Hunga- 
rian nation  numbered  over  five  millions  of 
people.  The  long,  long  wars  with  the  Turks 
succeeded,  and  the  five  millions  of  Magyars 
were  reduced  to  about  half  that  number  in 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries;  but 
as  soon  as  comparative  peace  smiled  upon 
Hungary  again,  the  nation,  which  had  been 
harried  and  decimated  by  centuries  of  war, 
at  once  gathered  its  forces  together,  renewed 
its  youth,  and  multiplied  its  population,  until 
now  there  are  nearly  twice  as  many  who 
boast  of  Magyar  blood  as  in  the  palmiest  days 
of  the  Middle  Ages. 

177 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

All  the  children  of  nobility  in  Hungary 
take  their  father's  rank.  In  England,  only  the 
eldest  son  inherits  his  father's  titles  and  the 
entailed  estates  of  the  family.  As  a  result, 
there  is  a  multitude  of  nobles  in  Hungary, 
many  of  whom  are  very  poor,  and  some  of 
whom  are  ignorant;  nevertheless,  their  social 
rank  is  maintained  and  admitted  by  the  peas- 
ants. These  are  the  "  smaller  nobles,"  while 
the  "  Magnates,"  or  "  great  nobles,"  are  few 
in  number  and  exceedingly  aristocratic.  It  is 
said  that  the  lesser  nobles  are  afraid  to  asso- 
ciate with  the  great  nobles  for  fear  they  may 
have  to  show  them  a  deference  which  they 
do  not  admit  is  their  due.  The  women  are 
especially  afraid  of  this  intercourse,  lest  they 
be  addressed  by  the  too  presuming  "you," 
instead  of  "thou,"  which  is  used  between 
equals. 

The  smaller  nobles  go  into  politics  and,  to 
some  extent,  into  trade  and  commerce,  which 
the  Magnates  despise,  for  the  most  part.  In 
former  days  this  attitude  toward  the  work  of 
the  world  resulted  in  many  cases  in  a  friv- 
olous, useless  life  on  the  part  of  the  descend- 


The  America  of  the  Old  World 

ants  of  the  greatest  families,  —  a  tendency,  I 
am  told,  which  is  being  corrected  in  these 
days,  as  the  great  nobles  realize  their  respon- 
sibilities and  are  stirred  with  nobler  feelings 
of  truer  patriotism. 

The  position  of  woman  in  Hungary  has  al- 
ways been  a  noble  one,  and  here  again  we 
may  say  there  is  an  evident  point  of  contact 
between  the  Hungarian  and  the  American  in 
the  respect  and  honor  which  is  accorded  to 
the  gentler  sex.  Even  the  meanest  employee 
kisses  the  hand  of  the  mistress  of  the  house, 
not  in  degrading  servility  but  as  a  kindly  and 
gracious  courtesy.  A  lady  from  America, 
in  visiting  Hungary,  is  often  rather  embar- 
rassed by  this  unusual  attention,  as  her  hand 
is  grasped  by  all  classes  and  conditions  of 
people,  and  a  fervent  kiss  implanted  upon  its 
back.  In  the  higher  circles,  however,  a  com- 
promise is  often  effected  in  these  days,  and 
as  the  lady's  hand  is  taken,  the  gentleman 
says,  with  great  grace  and  impressiveness, 
"  I  kiss  your  hand,"  and  allows  it  to  go  at 
that. 


179 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

In  their  love  for  education,  too,  we  find 
another  point  of  contact  between'the  Hun- 
garians and  the  Americans.  Though  deci- 
mated and  impoverished  by  centuries  of  war, 
the  desire  to  have  their  children  educated  and 
obtain  a  good  start  in  life  never  died  out  of 
the  Hungarian  heart,  and  the  percentage  of 
illiterates,  now  that  the  nation  has  become 
prosperous,  is  being  cut  down  with  very  grat- 
ifying and  speedy  regularity.  The  Germans 
of  Hungary  are  still  slightly  ahead  in  the 
percentage  of  those  who  can  read  and  write, 
though  the  Magyars  are  rapidly  overtaking 
them,  and  at  the  present  rate  of  progress  they 
will  soon  be  (if  they  are  not  already)  among 
the  best  educated  races  of  Europe. 

When  we  consider  the  progress  of  educa- 
tion in  the  outlying  provinces  of  the  Magyar 
land,  we  find  that  there  is  still  much  to  be 
desired.  In  the  whole  Hungarian  kingdom, 
something  over  sixty  per  cent  of  the  inhabit- 
ants can  read  and  write  5  but  the  percentage 
is  constantly  growing,  and  it  must  also  be 
remembered  that  the  illiteracy  in  Croatia, 
Slavonia,  and  the  more  backward  parts  of  the 
1 80 


The  America  of  the  Old  World 

kingdom  greatly  reduces  the  percentage  in 
the  whole  country. 

There  is  also  a  great  difference  in  this 
respect  between  the  Western  and  Eastern 
churches  of  Hungary.  In  the  Western 
churches,  which  comprise  the  Reformed,  the 
Lutheran,  the  Roman  Catholic,  and  the  Uni- 
tarian, over  seventy-one  per  cent  of  the 
people  read  and  write;  while  in  the  Eastern 
churches,  represented  by  the  Russian  and 
Greek  Orthodox  communions,  according  to 
the  last  statistics,  only  twenty-two  per  cent 
can  read  and  write.  The  Jews  present  the 
highest  proportion  of  educated  people,  more 
than  eighty-three  per  cent  of  them  being  able 
to  master  the  printed  page.  The  Evangelical 
Protestants  come  next,  and  are  less  than  one 
per  cent  behind  their  Jewish  neighbors. 

In  higher  education,  too,  Hungary  is  mak- 
ing rapid  progress.  There  are  fifty-nine  insti- 
tutes of  university  status  in  Hungary  proper, 
though  forty-six  of  these  are  theological  col- 
leges, which  would  seem  to  be  a  great  dis- 
proportion, accordingto  American  ideas;  but 
there  are  many  sects  in  Hungary,  and  each 
181 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

one  must  have  its  own  theological  faculties. 
There  is  a  great  desire  to  establish  more 
universities  for  science  and  the  classics;  and 
there  is  evident  need  of  this  when  we  re- 
.  member  that  the  University  of  Science  in 
Budapest  enrolls  over  seven  thousand  pupils, 
a  number  which  is  constantly  increasing. 
The  inherent  love  of  the  Magyars  for  educa- 
tion is  shown  in  the  rapid  advance  of  univer- 
sity extension,  which  recently  enrolled  in  its 
classes  among  the  common  people  no  less 
than  three  hundred  and  thirty-seven  thou- 
sand pupils. 

When  we  come  to  the  higher  realms  of 
literature,  though  the  Hungarian  writers 
have  not  as  yet  made  a  great  impression 
upon  other  lands,  the  nation  has  had  noble 
authors  who  deserve  to  be  better  known 
and  in  a  wider  circle. 

Petofi  is  the  great  national  poet  of  Hun- 
gary, his  countrymen  claiming  that  he  ranks 
with  Shakespeare  and  Goethe.  He  fired  the 
hearts  of  the  Hungarians  to  stand  for  liberty 
in  the  Revolution  of  '48,  and  though  at  first 
all  seemed  to  be  lost,  his  patriotic  verses 
182 


The  America  of  the  Old  World 

rang  in  the  hearts  of  the  Magyar  people 
until  they  attained  the  liberty  for  which  he 
sung  but  which  he  never  lived  to  see. 

Jean  Arany  and  Vorosmarty  are  also 
reckoned  as  poets  of  national  stature  and  of 
international  fame,  while  the  novelists  Jokai, 
Kemeny,  and  Eotvos  are  held  in  high  esteem 
by  all  who  can  read  their  novels  in  the  orig- 
inal. The  genius  of  the  Hungarian  language 
makes  it  difficult  to  translate  into  other 
tongues,  and  on  this  account  the  niceties  of 
expression  and  the  beauties  of  form  are  often 
lost  when  translations  are  attempted. 

The  libraries  of  Hungary,  too,  are  no  mean 
addition  to  its  literary  life.  The  Hungarian 
National  Museum  at  Budapest  contains  a 
million  and  a  half  volumes,  pamphlets,  and 
manuscripts,  "  preserving  many  of  the  old- 
est monuments  of  the  Hungarian  language, 
as  well  as  a  host  of  manuscripts  invaluable 
from  the  point  of  view  of  Hungarian  litera- 
ture and  history." 

The  circulation  of  the  newspapers,  while  it 
may  not  argue  much  for  the  literary  taste  of 
the  Hungarians,  declares  them  to  be  a  read- 
183 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

ing  nation,  for  the  latest  statistics  available 
show  that  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  mil- 
lions of  newspapers  were  delivered  through 
the  Hungarian  post-office  in  a  single  year, 
in  addition  to  the  unknown  millions  which 
were  sold  locally  and  delivered  at  the  houses 
by  newsboys.  A  large  proportion  of  these 
newspapers  are  in  the  Magyar  language, 
though  the  German  is  well  represented,  with 
a  smaller  number  in  Croatian,  Slovak,  Rou- 
manian, and  Servian. 

The  prophets  of  evil  frequently  announce 
the  downfall  of  the  United  States,  because  of 
the  great  number  of  alien  peoples  who  are 
constantly  coming  to  our  shores.  In  their 
gloomy  croakings  they  tell  us  that  we  can 
never  absorb  them,  and  that  they  will  be  our 
overthrow  and  ruin,  because  of  their  antago- 
nistic qualities. 

We  may  gain  some  comfort,  however, 
from  the  history  of  Hungary,  which,  as  I 
have  already  said,  is  a  nation  of  mixed  races, 
and  has  gained  its  strength  largely  from  the 
infusion  of  foreign  blood  in  the  original  stock. 
184 


The  America  of  the  Old  World 

Says  an  eminent  Hungarian,  Dr.  Julius  de 
Vargha,  the  Director  of  the  Statistics  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Hungary:  — 

The  Hungarian  (Magyar)  nation  of  to-day  is  no 
longer  an  Asiatic  people,  but  a  European  nation 
composed  of  the  intermingling  of  various  races  un- 
der the  influence  of  the  natural  conditions  prevailing 
in  the  country.  .  .  .  Mighty  conquering  peoples  — 
the  Goths,  Franks,  Lombards,  Normans,  and,  of  the 
Hunno-Scythian  peoples,  the  Bulgarians  —  became 
completely  absorbed  in  the  conquered  races:  only 
the  Hungarians  have  succeeded  in  maintaining  their 
racial  individuality,  despite  the  intermixture  of 
blood.  .  .  .  The  Hungarian  nation,  which  on  ob- 
taining possession  of  its  new  home  was  thrown  on 
a  huge  ocean  of  foreign  races,  owes  its  preservation 
as  a  nation  entirely  to  the  fact  that  it  was  never 
exclusive.  It  was  never  in  favor  of  racial  exclusive- 
ness,  and  was  always  only  too  glad  to  receive  into 
its  ranks  the  best  sons  of  other  races.  The  selected 
representatives  of  foreign  people  brought  with  them 
the  best  characteristics  of  their  own  race,  and 
helped  to  form  a  strong,  hardy,  almost  indomitable 
nation,  which  was  able  to  endure  terrible  catastro- 
phes that  would  have  wiped  other  peoples  entirely 
off  the  face  of  the  globe. 

In  another  chapter  some  of  these  catastro- 
phes, entailed  by  the  long  and  bloody  wars 
with  the  Turks,  have  been  related. 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

You  cannot  insult  a  true  Magyar  more 
than  by  intimating  that  his  nation  is  in  any 
way  subject  to  Austria,  and  that  he  belongs 
to  the  Austrian  Empire.  Yet  in  spite  of  this 
independence,  which  sometimes  is  carried  to 
an  almost  absurd  extreme,  the  Hungarian 
Kingdom  seems  to  be  the  strongest  support 
of  the  Hapsburg  Monarchy.  We  may  be- 
lieve, however,  that  it  is  only  because  the 
Emperor  is  wise  enough  to  treat  the  Mag- 
yars as  an  independent  nation. 

In  the  many-tongued  monarchy  at  present  under 
the  rule  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg  [says  Dr.  Vargha], 
it  is  the  Hungarian  nation  whose  interests  and  na- 
tional ambitions  are  identical  with  the  interests  of 
the  dynasty,  and  do  not  act  as  a  centrifugal  force. 
However  strong  the  specially  Austrian  traditions 
maybe,  the  Germans  (in  Austria-Hungary)  stand  un- 
der the  alluring  influence  of  the  splendor  and  power 
of  the  great  German  empire.  The  Italians  long  to 
join  Italy;  the  Slovenians,  Croatians,  and  Servians 
dream  of  the  'establishment  of  a  great  Southern 
Slav  Empire ;  the  Roumanians  are  drawn  towards  the 
independent  Kingdom  of  Roumania.  The  Hunga- 
rians (Magyars)  alone  are  possessed  of  no  dreams  of 
disintegration :  their  past,  present,  and  future  binds 
them  to  their  present  home;  and  they  are,  conse- 
quently, the  firmest  pillar  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg. 
1 86 


The  America  of  the  Old  World 

To  prove  that  the  Hungarians  are  an  elo- 
quent race,  we  need  only  point  to  the  long 
array  of  great  orators,  some  of  whom,  like 
Kossuth  of  a  former  generation  and  Apponyi 
of  the  present  day,  are  almost  as  well  known 
in  America  as  in  Hungary.  I  recently  at- 
tended the  meeting  of  the  synod  of  the  Re- 
formed Church  of  Hungary  in  the  city  of 
Debreczen,  where  Kossuth,  nearly  seventy 
years  ago,  proclaimed  the  absolute  independ- 
ence of  the  Hungarian  nation  at  the  begin- 
ning of  his  valiant  but  ill-fated  struggle  for 
liberty.  The  great  Reformed  Church  build- 
ing where  the  independence  of  Hungary  was 
proclaimed  still  stands ;  and  as  I  listened  to  the 
eloquent  words  of  the  members  of  the  synod, 
drawn  from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  I  real- 
ized that  Kossuth's  mantle  had  fallen  upon 
more  than  one  of  his  compatriots  of  the  pre- 
sent day,  and  that,  if  need  were,  many  another 
voice  would  be  lifted  with  equal  effect  for  the 
national  freedom  which,  at  last,  after  so  many 
struggles,  seems  to  be  assured  to  the  brave 
people  of  Hungary. 

Another  likeness  to  America  is  found  in 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

the  vast  stores  of  coal  and  iron  that  Hungary 
contains,  two  products  which  lie  at  the  very 
base  of  industrial  expansion.  With  the  splen- 
did prairies  of  the  lowlands,  prairies  with  soil 
as  deep  and  rich  as  that  of  Iowa;  with  coal 
and  iron  mines  which  have  not  yet  begun  to 
be  developed;  with  an  enterprising  and  pro- 
gressive people ;  with  a  mighty  river  like  the 
Danube  to  transport  the  products  of  industry 
to  the  sea;  with  a  magnificent  system  of  rail- 
roads, divided  into  zones,  which  makes  trans- 
portation cheaper  than  in  any  other  land,  the 
future  industrial  and  commercial  progress  of 
Hungary  would  seem  to  be  assured.  There 
are  few  countries  in  the  world  with  greater 
natural  advantages,  none  perhaps  with  a  more 
beautiful  and  stately  capital,  none  with  a  more 
enterprising  and  virile  people.  May  the  fu- 
ture of  Hungary  be  worthy  of  the  distin- 
guished favors  which  have  been  heaped  upon 
it  by  a  kind  and  generous  Providence! 


XII 

THE    CROATS    IN  CROATIA  AND    IN  AMERICA 

A  Surprisingly  Beautiful  City— A  Spot  of  Pathetic  Inter- 
est—  A  Musical  Language  —  A  Hard  Stepmother — Too 
Many  Eggs  in  One  Basket — The  Terribly  Barren  Karst  — 
Three  Hundred  Thousand  Croatians  in  America  —  The  Peas- 
ant Life  of  Croatia  —  The  Peasant  Girl  and  her  Marriage 
Chest —  Notes  of  a  Croatian  School-Teacher  —  The  Sad  De- 
parture of  the  Emigrant  —  The  Sorrowful  Friends  at  Home 
The  Good  Old  Days  — The  Contributions  sent  to  the  Old 
Home — The  Heartache  and  the  Hope. 

I  SHALL  not  soon  forget  my  surprise  on 
reaching  Zagreb,  the  capital  of  Croatia,  one 
November  afternoon,  to  find  a  city  so  beauti- 
ful and  substantial.  I  must  confess  that  my 
geographical  knowledge  had  not  made  me 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  this  metropolis; 
and  under  the  German  name,  Agram,  by  which 
I  had  formerly  known  it,  I  had  thought  of  it 
as  a  third-rate  provincial  city,  scarcely  worthy 
of  a  traveler's  time  and  money.  Judge,  then,  of 
my  mild  amazement  when  I  found  a  charming 
city,  with  all  the  conveniences  and  many  of  the 
luxuries  of  modern  city  life,  a  city  that  would 
rank  for  beauty  and  enterprise  with  any  of  the 
189 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

smaller  capitals  of  Europe.  Here  is  a  fine  art 
museum,  handsomely  housed,  a  prosperous 
university  with  hundreds  of  students,  a  beau- 
tiful park  with  handsome  statues  of  Croatian 
worthies,  a  South  Slav  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences,  and  excellent  industrial  and  trade 
schools.  All  this  profusion  of  monumental 
buildings  for  art  and  literature  greets  the  trav- 
eler when  first  he  leaves  the  railway  station, 
and  gives  him  an  impression  of  a  cultured 
people  with  a  distinct  individuality  and  na- 
tional life  of  its  own. 

Further  back  towards  the  hillside  which  is 
climbed  by  the  residential  section  of  Zagreb 
(I  prefer  to  give  the  capital  the  Croatian 
name)  is  a  busy  retail  street  and  an  interesting 
market-place  that  centres  around  the  heroic 
statue  of  Ban  Jellacic,the  great  national  hero 
of  Croatia.  Beyond  the  market-place  is  a 
handsome  Gothic  cathedral,  reminding  one 
not  a  little  of  Cologne's  masterpiece. 

But  the  spot  of  supreme  pathetic  interest 

to  me  in  Zagreb  is  an  old  church  of   the 

thirteenth  century,  called  St.  Mark's.    It  is 

small  and  battered,  but  it  marks  the  last  stand 

190 


The  Croats 

of  the  Croatians  for  independence.  In  the 
pavement  in  front  of  the  church  are  five  holes 
sacred  in  the  eyes  of  all  Zagrebians,  for  here 
were  set  the  five  iron  posts  to  which  was 
bound  the  last  Croatian  king.  Fagots  were 
piled  up  around  him  and  set  on  fire,  and  the 
old  king  was  burned  alive.  But  the  spirit  of 
liberty  did  not  die  with  him.  The  intensity 
of  the  national  spirit  of  the  Croats  is  surpris- 
ing, considering  that  for  nearly  a  thousand 
years  they  have  been  subject  to  other  powers. 
Their  language,  their  customs,  their  dress,  are 
as  dear  to  them  as  ever. 

Nowhere  in  all  Europe  does  one  see  such 
picturesque  peasant  costumes  as  in  Croatia. 
White  or  very  light  colors  predominate,  re- 
lieved by  beautiful  colored  embroidery.  The 
Croatian  language,  too,  is  one  of  the  most 
musical  of  all  Slav  tongues,  abounding  in 
open  vowels.  This  language  is  used  in  their 
schools,  as  well  as  in  their  courts,  and  there 
seems  to  be  little  danger  of  its  being  lost  to 
the  world. 

Most  of  the  time  for  the  last  nine  hundred 
years  Croatia  has  been  united  to  Hungary, 
191 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

a  country  which,  it  must  be  confessed,  has 
been  a  hard  stepmother  at  times.  This  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at,  perhaps,  when  we  re- 
member all  the  provocation  that  she  has  had. 
In  the  revolution  of  1848-49,  for  instance, 
when  Hungary  was  making  her  brave  fight 
for  freedom  under  Kossuth  and  the  other 
patriots,  Croatia  sided  with  Austrian  tyrants 
and  helped  the  Hapsburgs  to  put  a  galling 
yoke  on  the  neck  of  Hungary.  The  Croats, 
however,  did  not  gain  much;  for  though  they 
were  free  from  Hungarian  dominion  for  a 
season  of  years,  and  enjoyed  for  a  little  time 
a  practical  independence,  yet  in  1868  Croatia 
was  given  back  to  Hungary.  "We  hate  the 
Hungarians  and  fear  the  Austrians,"  said  an 
intelligent  Croat  to  me.  It  is  somewhat  dif- 
ficult for  a  stranger  to  understand  the  rea- 
son for  this  racial  dislike  of  the  Hungarians, 
since  Croatia  now  enjoys  a  large  degree  of 
autonomy.  Indeed,  her  relation  to  Hungary, 
as  one  of  the  "  crown  lands  of  St.  Stephen," 
is  very  much  the  same  as  the  relation  of 
Hungary  to  Austria.  In  postal  and  military 
affairs  Hungary  and  Croatia  are  united  under 


The  Croats 

one  system,  but  in  religious  and  educational 
matters  Croatia  is  quite  independent.  Her 
own  beloved  language  is  used  in  the  schools. 
The  towns  have  Croatian  names,  though 
sometimes  supplemented  by  German  names 
in  German  guide-books.  The  streets  of  Za- 
greb are  named  in  Croatian  and  after  Croa- 
tian heroes. 

Croatia  suffers,  like  most  of  the  countries 
of  southeastern  Europe,  because  too  much 
of  the  wealth  and  intelligence  of  the  country 
is  centred  in  the  capital.  Too  many  of  her 
eggs  are  in  one  basket,  so  to  speak.  Her 
culture  and  education  are  not  diffused  as 
they  should  be  through  the  country  districts. 
Much  of  the  country,  especially  the  western 
and  seashore  districts,  is  poor  and  sterile 
and  mountainous.  In  thousands  of  acres  of 
the  so-called  Karst  or  limestone  district  not 
a  blade  of  grass  has  courage  to  peer  between 
the  rocks  in  this  hideous  desolation.  It  is 
from  this  region  naturally  that  emigration 
to  the  United  States  has  chiefly  taken  place, 
and  it  is  said,  though  it  is  somewhat  difficult 
to  untangle  the  nationalities  from  this  part 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

of  the  world  in  the  Census  Reports,  that 
there  are  at  least  three  hundred  thousand 
Croatians  living  to-day  in  America.  Though 
most  of  them  are  farmers  at  home,  they  flock 
to  the  coal,  iron,  and  copper  mines  of  Amer- 
ica, lured  by  the  high  wages,  and  undeterred 
by  the  hardships  which  they  know  will  be 
theirs.  If  this  living  Croatian  river  could  be 
directed  to  the  fertile  prairies  of  the  Dakotas 
and  Nebraska,  it  would  be  a  blessing  not 
only  to  the  Croats,  but  to  these  prairie  states 
as  well. 

I  would  not  give  the  impression  that  the 
Croatian  peasants  are  undesirable  immigrants, 
by  any  means.  There  are  few  better.  They 
have  the  virtues  developed  by  poverty  and 
a  hard  struggle  with  human  enemies.  For 
centuries  they  were,  with  the  Hungarians 
and  Transylvanians,  part  of  the  long  bul- 
wark of  Christianity  against  the  Turk,  and 
it  is  their  proud  boast  that  they  never  came 
under  the  power  of  Islam.  Few  in  our  day 
realize  what  Europe,  and  America  as  the 
heir  of  Europe,  owe  to  these  intrepid  Christ- 
ians, against  whom  the  tide  of  Mohammed- 
194 


The  Croats 

anism  broke  in  vain  for  many  centuries. 
Had  they  given  way  and  let  in  the  Mussul- 
man horde,  the  history  of  civilization  would 
have  been  written  in  darker  and  bloodier 
characters. 

The  peasant  life  of  Croatia,  though  poor 
and  illiterate,  is  by  no  means  hopeless.  We 
must  rid  ourselves  of  the  idea  that  to  read 
and  write  are  the  only  essential  elements  of 
an  education.  Though  of  the  older  peasants 
of  Croatia  less  than  half  can  read  or  write 
their  own  names,  yet  we  have  pleasant  pic- 
tures of  their  gathering  in  groups  on  winter 
evenings  to  listen  while  some  one  reads  to 
them,  not  only  the  newspapers,  but  transla- 
tions of  Tolstoy,  Turgenieff,  and  Dostoyev- 
sky.  Who  will  say  that  men  and  women 
who  can  appreciate  such  modern  classics 
are  not  quite  as  well  educated  as  young 
Americans,  who  have  been  through  nine 
grades  of  the  public  schools  and  then  find 
their  literary  aspirations  fully  satisfied,  as 
many  of  them  do,  by  a  yellow  journal  or  a 
"  penny  dreadful  "  ? 

Many  of  the  Croatian  farmhouses  are  by 
'95 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

no  means  inhospitable  in  their  appearance. 
They  are  built  of  brick  or  wattle,  covered 
with  plaster  and  often  painted  a  bright  color. 
Around  them  are  frequently  clustered  com- 
fortable outhouses  for  the  cattle,  while  a 
number  of  little  shelters  for  the  hay,  some- 
times a  score  of  them  on  one  farm,  seem  to 
be  a  peculiarity  of  Croatia. 

Very  likely  you  will  see  a  gayly  clad  peas- 
ant girl  watching  her  geese  or  her  sheep 
while  she  industriously  knits  a  long  gray 
stocking,  and  you  may  know  that  she  is 
making  part  of  her  wedding  trousseau.  She 
may  be  but  six  or  eight  years  of  age,  but 
she  has  already  begun  the  unending  click, 
click,  click  of  the  knitting  needles,  with 
which  she  must  provide  part  of  her  bridal 
costume;  for  the  unwritten  law  of  the  land 
prescribes  that  when  she  gets  married,  she 
shall  have  stockings  enough  knit  to  last  her 
husband  as  well  as  herself  the  rest  of  their 
lives.  Indeed,  her  chest  must  contain  a  com- 
plete outfit  for  the  bridegroom  as  well  as  for 
herself, — jacket,  underwear,  shoes,  and  cap, 
—  while  he  is  not  expected  to  bring  any- 

196 


The  Croats 

thing  to  his  prospective  bride.  The  parents 
of  the  happy  couple  usually  arrange  the  de- 
tails of  the  marriage  in  advance,  going  very 
minutely  into  every  question  that  ought  to 
be  considered.  Finally,  the  most  interested 
parties  are  brought  together,  when  the  par- 
ents have  arranged  all  details,  and  the  young 
man  presents  his  future  wife  with  an  apple, 
while  she  returns  the  favor  with  a  handker- 
chief, and  the  engagement  is  complete.  This 
is  a  reversal  of  the  Adam  and  Eve  story,  and 
we  may  hope  that  the  fruit  is  never  an  apple 
of  discord. 

Though  not  strictly  of  the  same  stock,  a 
few  words  about  our  neighbors  from  Dal- 
matia,  Bosnia,  and  Herzegovina  may  not  be 
out  of  place  in  this  connection.  Dalmatia  is 
the  long  narrow  strip  of  seacoast  fronting  the 
Adriatic,  back  of  which  lie  the  homes  of  the 
peasants  of  whom  I  have  been  writing,  as 
well  as  the  provinces  of  Bosnia-Herzego- 
vina, which  Austria  annexed  as  recently  as 
1908,  after  having  "administered"  them  for 
many  years. 

Dalmatia  is  a  frightfully  sterile  country  in 
197 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

many  parts,  but  extremely  picturesque,  and 
richer  in  antiquities  than  almost  any  part  of 
the  earth's  surface.  Ruined  castles  and  tem- 
ples and  palaces  that  date  back  to  the  heroic 
days  of  Rome  line  the  shore;  and  as  I  have 
described  in  another  chapter,  no  more  fas- 
cinating journey  can  be  made  than  down  the 
island-sheltered  shore  of  Dalmatia,  until  one 
comes  to  the  inhospitable  Black  Mountains 
of  Montenegro,  which  of  course  lie  outside 
of  the  boundaries  of  Austria-Hungary. 

The  emigration  from  these  sections  of  the 
empire  has  been  small,  scarcely  totaling 
thirty  thousand  in  the  ten  years  between 
1899  and  1909,  which  seems  strange  when 
we  remember  how  great  are  the  numbers 
sent  to  America  from  the  rest  of  Austria. 
Though  the  Dalmatians  are  Slavs,  there  is  an 
admixture  of  Greek  and  Latin  blood.  From 
the  north  of  the  Dalmatian  coast  come  to 
America  many  Italians;  for  Trieste,  as  we 
shall  see  in  another  chapter,  is  an  Italian 
city  on  Austrian  soil,  but  these  new  fellow 
citizens  have  all  the  characteristics  of  those 
who  come  from  Italy  proper. 
198 


The  Croats 

I  am  tempted  to  quote  at  some  length  from 
some  "notes"  written  by  a  Croatian  school- 
teacher.1 They  present  the  matter  of  emigra- 
tion from  the  inside  so  graphically  that  I  be- 
lieve no  one  can  read  them  without  having 
kindled  in  his  soul  a  new  interest  in  the  word 
"  Americans." 

To-day  they  are  telling  in  the  village  that  fifteen 
are  going  to  Fiume  to-morrow  by  the  early  train,  — 
men,  women,  and  young  girls  on  their  way  to  Amer- 
ica. They  were  all  blessed  by  the  priest  after  mass. 
The  prayer  for  their  happiness  away  from  home  was 
very  moving.  All  who  knelt  before  the  altar  were 
pale,  struggling  against  the  tears  in  eyes  which  may 
never  see  this  church  again.  On  this  consecrated 
spot  they  took  leave  of  the  fatherland,  our  dear 
Croatia,  who  cannot  feed  her  children  because  she 
is  not  free  nor  the  mistress  of  her  own  money.  She 
must  let  them  go  among  strangers  in  order  that 
those  who  remain  may  live,  they  and  their  children 
and  their  old  people.  And  the  old  people  die  in  peace 
because  they  have  hope;  the  little  ones  shall  fare 
better  than  ever  they  have  done. 

This  morning  all  went  early  to  confession.  With 
God  they  go  safer  on  their  long  journey.  Toward 
evening  they  can  be  seen  hurrying  from  house  to 

1  Quoted  in  Our  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens,  by  Pro- 
fessor Emily  G.  Balch. 

199 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

house,  taking  leave  of  those  that  they  love.  Who 
can  say  that  there  will  ever  be  another  meeting  for 
them?  It  is  very  late  before  they  have  finished  these 
visits,  and  the  family  waits  for  them  with  impa- 
tience. With  impatience,  how  else,  when  this  even- 
ing or  rather  the  few  hours  still  left  are  so  short? 
This  is  the  last  supper  at  home.  There  is  no  going  to 
bed,  for  at  three  they  must  start  for  the  station,  as 
the  train  goes  at  four.  It  is  so  sad  to  hear  them 
driving  through  the  village  singing  a  song  which 
expresses  all  the  feelings  of  their  sore  hearts. 

The  saddest  moment  of  all  is  the  departure.  The 
train  has  come,  they  must  get  on  board.  How  many 
tears  and  sobs  and  kisses  in  our  little  forest  and 
rock-bound  station!  Friends  go  with  them  to 
Fiume  —  all  but  the  children  and  the  old  folks,  who 
stay  in  the  village  alone. 

In  Fiume  the  girls  buy  what  they  need  for  the 
journey,  and  a  little  gold  crucifix.  That  must  be 
bought  in  the  fatherland.  So  must  rings,  too. 
Often  the  parents  buy  the  betrothal  rings  for  their 
sons  and  daughters,  who  marry  in  America,  and 
send  them  to  them.  Faith  and  love  come  from  the 
homeland. 

Finally,  at  the  ship  good-byes  must  be  said,  the 
last.  One  little  girl,  whose  older  sister  was  going  by 
train  to  Vienna,  had  gone  with  her  to  Fiume.  But 
when  the  train  was  about  to  go  the  little  one  flung 
herself  down  upon  the  ground  in  her  distress  and 
shrieked  terribly.  Every  one  tried  to  pacify  her,  but 
she  pressed  her  little  hands  over  her  eyes  to  hide  the 
200 


The  Croats 

engine  from  her  sight,  and  answered,  "  It  is  easy  for 
you  to  talk,  but  this  hateful  engine  is  robbing  me  of 
my  sweet  sister."  She  was  quite  ill  with  suffering, 
and  they  had  much  ado  to  get  her  away.  But  it  is 
hardest  for  the  mothers  who  let  their  daughters  or 
their  sons  go. 

Very  late,  after  midnight,  people  come  home  — 
alone.  Now  come  quiet  tears  and  prayers  that  God 
may  grant  the  travelers  a  safe  arrival.  With  what 
anxiety  and  joy  do  they  wait  for  the  news  from  the 
agent  that  their  dear  ones  have  reached  New  York 
in  safety.  There  relatives  are  already  expecting 
them,  and  the  journey  can  be  peacefully  continued 
in  their  company.  Our  people  generally  go  to  Michi- 
gan. In  one  town  there  are  so  many  that  our  people 
call  it  "NewLipa." 

The  money  for  the  journey  always  comes  from 
relatives  or  friends  to  whom  all  is  honestly  repaid 
later.  The  young  fellows  try  to  save  the  money  to 
bring  over  a  young  girl.  When  she  comes  to  Amer- 
ica —  generally  she  does  not  know  her  suitor  —  she 
is  married.  If  she  is  unwilling,  not  finding  him  to 
her  liking,  she  must  pay  back  the  money,  but  it 
very  often  happens  that  another  lad  pays  it  for  her 
and  takes  her  for  his  wife  instead. 

Many  girls  are  very  fortunate  in  America.  For 
instance,  this  very  day  a  family  is  coming  home. 
The  wife  was  poor  and  ill-favored.  Relatives  sent 
her  money  for  the  journey  to  America,  and  there  she 
married  a  poor  and  very  humble  sort  of  man.  By 
work  and  saving  they  have  got  together  six  thou- 
201 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

sand  dollars  in  thirteen  years.  They  have  six  child- 
ren and  with  them  are  now  returning.  In  those 
days  she  was  poor,  ridiculed,  alone;  now  she  is  well- 
to-do,  respected,  the  mother  of  a  family.  The  women 
are  full  of  curiosity  about  her.  At  noon  they  were  all 
in  the  street  in  hopes  of  seeing  her,  but  in  vain.  She 
and  her  family  are  staying  in  Fiume  and  will  come 
to-night,  perhaps.  My  housekeeper  is  her  godmo- 
ther, and  so  awaits  her  happy  godchild  with  much 
pleasure,  for  she  is  to  offer  her,  for  purchase,  a  large 
meadow  which  once  belonged  to  the  parents  of  her 
godchild,  but  which  they  were  obliged  to  sell.  I 
think  that  would  be  a  very  pleasant  feeling,  to  be 
able  to  buy  back  again  a  piece  of  land  lost  in  one's 
father's  time,  and  to  let  the  happy  grandchildren 
jump  and  play  about  where  once  the  poor  grand- 
father worked,  and  whence  misfortune  drove  him 
away  to  die. 

My  housekeeper,  who  is  already  sixty-five,  can- 
not tell  without  crying  how  it  used  to  be  here  in  the 
good  old  days.  Thirty-four  years  ago  there  was  no 
railroad.  Our  splendid  highway,  the  "Lujziane," 
even  then  a  century  old,  saw  such  activity  as  will 
never  return.  All  travel  was  by  this  road,  and  our 
people  were  happy  because  they  always  had  the  op- 
portunity to  work  and  to  live  in  peace.  In  one  house 
they  kept  ten  servants,  men  and  maids.  Day  and 
night  the  teams  with  their  heavy  loads  were  on  the 
highway.  Labor  was  very  cheap,  a  man  got  about 
thirteen  cents  and  a  woman  six  cents  a  day.  To  be 
sure,  they  had  good  food  besides,  bread,  meat,  and 
202 


The  Croats 

wine  as  much  as  they  wanted,  and  the  children  of 
the  women  servants  were  fed,  too.  The  wages  were 
low,  as  I  have  said,  yet  the  people  were  contented. 
Some  got  very  rich,  but  the  poor,  too,  were  well 
provided  for. 

Twenty  years  ago  two  men  went  to  America  from 
here,  the  first  from  our  place  to  go.  Now  nearly  half 
the  village  is  in  America.  It  is  hard  to  till  the  fields, 
for  there  are  no  workers  to  be  had.  Whoever  has 
strength  and  youth  is  at  work  in  America.  At  home 
are  only  the  old  men  and  women,  and  the  young 
wives  with  their  children.  Every  wife  has  much  to 
do  for  herself.  Only  poor  girls  work  in  the  fields. 
"And  they  must  be  paid  a  crown  (twenty  cents)  a 
day,"  sighs  my  housekeeper,  and  thinks  of  the  bet- 
ter days  of  old.  .  .  . 

What  especially  pleases  them  is  the  respect  in 
which  workers  are  held  in  America.  They  are  better 
cared  for,  too,  mentally.  They  have  three  or  four 
Croatian  papers,  they  have  organizations,  and  learn 
much  that  they  bring  home  later.  They  have  their 
priests  and  churches,  but  as  yet  only  two  Croatian 
schools.  All  is  founded  by  the  contributions  of 
workingmen.  They  send  a  great  deal  home  to  the 
churches,  too ;  they  are  supporting  a  poor  man,  and 
in  1903,  when  there  were  the  disturbances  in  Croatia 
about  the  Hungarian  flag  and  the  Hungarian  inscrip- 
tions on  the  railroad  stations,  our  brothers  in  Amer- 
ica sacrificed  a  great  deal  for  the  support  of  the 
families  of  those  under  arrest.  They  love  Croatia 
dearly.  Each  one  longs  for  home  and  wants  to  die 
203 


Old  Homes  cf  New  Americans 

here.  We  Slavs  are  so  soft-natured.  Homesickness 
is  our  disease.  On  account  of  it  many  Croatians 
cannot  hold  out,  and  return  home  too  soon. 
<7»  The  talk  is  all  of  America.  Our  newspapers  write 
so  much  what  a  bad  thing  it  is  for  whole  families  to 
go  there  as  they  do.  But  it  is  no  use.  People  must 
eat.  The  stones  are  hard.  There  is  too  little  land. 
The  Government  does  nothing  for  the  good  of  the 
people.  There  are  no  factories,  there  is  no  building, 
no  mining.  So  how  can  people  live  and  pay  taxes? 
And  if  the  taxes  are  not  paid  the  cow  is  taken  from 
the  stall,  the  pillows  from  under  the  head. 

Only  American  capital  could  lessen  the  stream  of 
emigration.  Croatia  is  a  beautiful  country.  Our 
mountains  doubtless  hold  great  treasures,  but  we 
lack  the  money  with  which  to  seek  them.  Only 
American  capital  could  bring  them  to  light.  We 
have  the  beautiful  sea,  the  lovely  Plitvica  lakes,  and 
the  fine  district  about  Agram,  but  we  cannot  make 
use  of  these  beauties  as  a  rich  and  free  people  could. 
We  have  a  sufficient  income,  but  as  a  public  man  has 
said,  "Our  pockets  are  in  the  Hungarian  trousers." 
The  Hungarians  have  our  money,  and  give  us  just 
enough  to  keep  us  alive.  Only  a  free  and  inde- 
pendent nation  can  progress.  We  are  like  dead 
capital. 

But  we  hope  for  our  national  resurrection.  So 
many  have  already  died  in  this  hope.  It  is  our  ideal, 
our  dearest  one.  For  this  Zriny  and  Frankopany 
died.  The  innocent  blood  of  our  best  sons  must  at 
last  bring  us  good  fortune. 
204 


The  Croats 

Doubtless  this  schoolmistress,  in  her  deep 
love  for  her  native  land,  depicts  her  condi- 
tion and  the  rule  of  Hungary  in  too  gloomy 
a  light ;  but  this  long  extract  is  well  worth 
quoting,  for  it  reveals  the  heart  of  the  emi- 
grant not  only  from  Croatia,  but  from  all  these 
other  lands,  and  the  hearts  of  those  left  be- 
hind as  well,  as  no  foreigner  could  possibly 
reveal  them,  and  it  should  strike  a  sympa- 
thetic chord  in  the  heart  of  every  reader. 
The  love  of  home,  the  high  patriotism,  the 
inexorable  conditions  that  drive  the  exile 
across  the  sea,  the  homesickness,  the  void 
left  behind,  the  high  hopes  of  the  new  home 
—  alas!  sometimes  dashed,  but  more  often 
fulfilled — all  this  is  depicted  in  these  simple 
but  eloquent  "  notes."  As  we  look  at  the  new 
arrivals,  swarming  to  our  shores  at  Ellis 
Island,  or  Boston,  or  Baltimore,  we  may  well 
think  that  for  everyone,  from  whatever  coun- 
try he  comes,  there  is  something  of  the  heart- 
ache and  the  hope  revealed  in  these  words. 


XIII 

THE    SLOVENIANS    AND    THEIR   CONTRIBU- 
TION  TO    AMERICA 

Where  the  Slovenians  come  from  —  Where  they  go  —  A 
Thrifty  People  —  A  Picturesque  Country  —  An  Undiscovered 
Paradise  —  The  Aspirations  of  the  Slovenians  for  Liberty  — 
A  Literary  Revival  and  the  Reformation  —  The  Curious  An- 
cient Custom  of  inaugurating  the  Prince. 

QUITE  distinct  from  the  Slovaks  is  another 
Slav  race  that  is  sending  its  sons  to  America 
by  the  ten  thousand.  These  are  Slovenians 
from  the  southwestern  part  of  Austria.  Most 
of  them  in  Carinthia,  Styria,  and  Carniola 
are  directly  under  Austrian  rule.  A  few 
others  in  Croatia-Slavonia  are  under  the 
Hungarian  crown,  with  certain  autonomous 
powers  of  their  own.  It  is  difficult  to  know 
just  how  many  Slovenians  have  reached 
America,  since  they  are  often  classified  as 
Austrians  in  the  emigration  reports;  but  five 
years  ago,  in  1907,  a  Slovenian  editor  esti- 
mated that  there  were  at  least  one  hundred 
thousand  of  them  in  the  United  States,  includ- 
206 


The  Slovenians 

ing  Alaska.  Moreover,  it  is  a  cheering  fact 
that  they  do  not  all,  or  indeed  many  of  them, 
seek  their  fortune  in  New  York  or  Boston 
or  Philadelphia,  but  they  scatter  themselves 
throughout  the  Western  States,  as  many  as 
fifteen  thousand  Slovenian  farmers  being  set- 
tled in  the  State 'of  Washington,  while  nearly 
as  many  more  have  taken  up  farms  in  Min- 
nesota, and  other  thousands  are  found  in 
Kansas,  Utah,  and  Colorado.  They  are  a 
thrifty  people,  as  is  shown  by  the  facts  that 
three  thousand  Slovenians  are  in  business 
in  and  near  Pueblo,  Colorado,  and  that  the 
Slovenian  farmers  in  Minnesota  are  almost 
uniformly  prosperous.  An  interesting  depart- 
ment-store item  is  that  the  largest  establish- 
ment of  this  sort  north  of  Chicago  is  owned 
and  operated  by  a  Slovenian,  in  Calumet, 
Michigan. 

In  a  recent  journey  through  the  Slovenian 
country,  I  was  charmed  with  the  delightful 
scenery,  and  the  picturesqueness  of  the  vil- 
lages and  of  the  peasants  in  their  quaint  cos- 
tumes. After  the  long  railway  journey  over 
the  rich  but  monotonous  plains  of  Hungary, 
207 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

it  was  a  relief  to  get  into  the  hilly  country 
of  Carniola  and  Carinthia.  Charming  val- 
leys nestled  under  the  protection  of  beetling 
crags,  sparkling  brooks  ran  chattering  down 
the  hillsides,  splendid  forests  clothed  the 
mountains  almost  to  the  top,  while  one  often 
obtained  glimpses  of  rich  intervales  and 
prosperous  farms  and  pastures,  dotted  with 
flocks  and  herds,  and  flecked  with  hundreds 
of  white  geese  and  ducks.  It  seemed  to  me 
like  an  undiscovered  Paradise,  for  compara- 
tively few  tourists  disturb  these  lovely  soli- 
tudes. No  Cook's  "personally  conducted 
parties  "  invade  the  primitive  hotels.  I  won- 
dered, as  the  crooked  railway  revealed  new 
charms  every  moment,  that  some  enterprising 
Swiss  hotel-keeper  had  not  discovered  them, 
and  trumpeted  them  abroad.  I  know  of  no 
more  delightful  spots  in  the  valleys  of  the 
Rhone  or  the  Rhine  than  in  the  valley  of  the 
Laibach.  The  city  of  Laibach,  in  Carniola, 
the  unofficial  capital  of  the  Slovenians,  struck 
me  as  a  peculiarly  beautiful  town,  where  I 
would  like  to  settle  down  for  a  long  summer 
holiday. 

208 


The  Slovenians 

As  one  approaches  the  sea  in  the  neighbor- 
hood both  of  Fiume  and  Trieste,  the  country 
becomes  more  sterile,  and  at  last  absolutely 
hopeless,  from  the  agricultural  standpoint. 
Gaunt,  bare  granite  hills  rise  up  on  every 
side,  wind-swept  and  bleak.  The  dreadful 
Bora  has  whirled  the  last  particle  of  soil 
from  between  the  rocks,  and  the  poor  peas- 
ants, in  order  to  raise  a  few  cabbages  and 
potatoes,  must  build  a  high  wall  of  masonry 
around  their  little  plots,  which  are  some- 
times not  more  than  fifteen  feet  square. 

The  Slovenians,  as  compared  with  the 
Slovaks,  are  not  a  great  people  numerically, 
numbering  only  about  a  million  and  a  half 
who  speak  their  language ;  and  it  is  interest- 
ing to  know  that  already  one  Slovenian  out 
of  fifteen  lives  in  America.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  believe  that,  before  the  end  of  this  cen- 
tury, she  will  harbor  a  majority  of  these  hardy, 
enterprising  sons  of  the  soil. 

That  Slovenes  are  not  without  aspirations 
for  liberty  and  a  national  life  of  their  own  is 
shown  by  their  various  efforts  to  secure  na- 
tional independence.  These  uprisings  were 
209 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

almost  hopeless,  surrounded  as  the  people 
were  by  half  a  dozen  nationalities  far  stronger 
than  their  own;  but  they  indicate  that  the 
Slovenes  have  the  spirit  of  free  men,  and 
will  appreciate  the  blessings  of  a  free  re- 
public. 

At  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  a  large 
part  of  the  Slovene  country  became  Protest- 
ant. But  the  nobles,  who  remained  Catholic, 
together  with  most  of  the  landed  proprietors, 
aided  by  the  predominant  influence  of  the 
Jesuits,  forced  or  coaxed  the  people  back  to 
the  Mother  Church  again,  so  that  now  they 
are  Roman  Catholics  almost  to  a  man.  As  in 
Bohemia,  the  Protestant  Reformation  brought 
in  its  train  a  literary  as  well  as  a  religious 
revival,  and  the  Bible  and  other  books  were 
translated  into  Slovenian,  a  literary  renas- 
cence which  has  not  entirely  disappeared, 
though  the  people  are  no  longer  allowed  to 
read  the  Bible  in  their  own  tongue. 

In  the  Napoleonic  wars  much  of  the  Slo- 
venian country,  together  with  Dalmatia  and 
Croatia,  was  united  to  France  for  a  short 
time,  as  her  Illyrian  provinces.  But  Napo- 

210 


The  Slovenians 

Icon's  star  waned,  and  the  Slovenians  were 
obliged  to  return  to  their  old  allegiance. 

A  curious  ancient  custom  of  the  Slovenes, 
as  told  by  Louis  Ledger  in  his  history  of 
Austria-Hungary,  is  worth  recording.  When 
a  new  prince  was  inaugurated  over  the  Slo- 
venians, a  peasant  mounted  a  rock  to  await 
the  coming  of  the  prince,  who  was  dressed 
like  a  peasant.  As  the  prince  advanced, 
the  peasant  called,  "Who  is  this  who  ap- 
proaches ?  "  The  people  answered,  "  It  is  the 
prince  of  this  land."  The  peasant  then  said, 
"Is  he  a -good  judge?  Is  he  the  friend  of 
truth?"  On  receiving  a  reply  in  the  affirma- 
tive, the  peasant  yielded  his  place  to  the  new- 
comer, who  mounted  the  rock  and,  brandish- 
ing his  sword,  vowed  to  defend  the  country 
of  the  Slovenians.  We  may  well  believe  that 
people  with  such  blood  in  their  veins  will 
not  disgrace  their  adopted  country. 


XIV 

OUR  NEIGHBORS    THE    SLOVAKS  AT   HOME 

How  many  Slovaks  in  America?  —  An  Interesting,  Whole- 
some, Industrious  People  —  Their]  Folklore  —  Old-fashioned 
Ways  —  Their  Beautiful  Costumes  -^Their  Lack  oFEduca- 
tion — Illiteracy  not  the  Worst"" Fault  —  The  Virtues  and 
Vices  of  the  Slovaks  —  Famous  for  Wire-  and  Tin-Work  — 
The  Proverbial  Honesty  of  the  Slovak  —  How  the  Magyariz- 
ing  Policy  of  Hungary  drives  the  Slovaks  to  America. 

No  wonder  that  the  average  American 
becomes  confused  when  trying  to  straighten 
out  in  his  mind  the  nationality  of  the  neigh- 
bors who  come  from  that  conglomerate  na- 
tion, Austria-Hungary,  and  to  differentiate 
the  Slovaks  from  the  Slovenians,  the  Czechs 
from  the  Poles,  and  the  great  dominating  race 
of  Magyars  from  the  more  numerous  Slavs 
who  share  the  same  territory.  I  asked  an 
intelligent  American  lady,  who  had  traveled 
widely  and  was  not  unacquainted  with  the 
history  and  nationality  of  Austria-Hungary, 
how  many  Slovaks  she  thought  there  were 
in  the  United  States.  She  hazarded  the  guess 
that  there  might  be  twenty  thousand.  She 

212 


The  Slovaks 

was  only  five  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
out  of  the  way,  but  I  have  no  doubt  her  guess 
was  quite  as  near  the  truth  as  would  be  that 
of  most  of  her  countrywomen,  or  countrymen 
either,  for  that  matter.  Surely  a  nationality 
with  six  hundred  thousand  representatives  in 
the  United  States,  a  nationality  that  would 
people  a  city  as  large  as  Boston  or  Baltimore, 
a  race  that  sends  to  the  homeland  some  fif- 
teen million  hard-earned  dollars  every  year, 
a  race  that  sends,  not  its  weaklings  and  in- 
competents, but  the  best  of  its  brawn  and 
muscle,  its  vigorous,  enterprising,  virtuous 
young  men  and  women,  is  worth  the  sympa- 
thetic consideration  of  every  American. 

Though  both  are  Slavs,  the  Slovaks  must 
not  be  confounded  with  the  Slovenians,  who 
come  from  quite  a  different  part  of  the  Hun- 
garian kingdom.  The  native  habitat  of  the 
former  is  in  the  north,  along  the  borders  of 
the  Carpathian  Mountains,  and  not  far  from 
the  Moravians  and  Bohemians,  whom  they 
resemble  in  language  and  customs,  while  the 
Slovenians  live  in  the  south  on  the  border  of 
Croatia.  They  have  no  splendid  independent 
,2I3 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

national  history  like  their  neighbors,  the  Bo- 
hemians and  the  Poles,  and  they  are  not  so 
assertive  of  their  individual  nationality  as  the 
Magyars,  to  whom  they  are  subject;  but  they 
are  an  interesting,  wholesome,  industrious 
people,  who  will  add  a  worth-while  strain 
of  blood  to  our  cosmopolitan  nation. 

Like  all  the  Slavic  races,  their  literature, 
written  and  oral  (if  we  may  thus  speak  of  it), 
is  rich  in  folklore,  and  every  ruined  castle 
(and  in  some  parts  of  the  Slavic  country  these 
ruins  crown  almost  every  crag)  has  its  legend. 
Sometimes  these  legends  are  blood-curdling 
in  the  extreme,  like  the  story  of  Csejte,  where 
the  cruel  countess  lived  who  murdered  three 
hundred  young  girls,  that  she  might  bathe  in 
their  blood  and  thus  renew  her  youth. 

The  Slovak  peasants  at  home  are  neat  in 
their  personal  habits,  and  their  homes,  though 
often  very  poor,  are  models  of  cleanliness. 
You  will  find  the  bed-coverings  the  special 
pride  of  the  Slovaks.  The  feathers  of  nearly 
twenty  of  the  plump  geese  which  you  will 
see  in  every  dooryard  are  needed  to  fill  only 
one  of  the  great  pillows,  almost  as  large  as 
214 


The  Slovaks 

feather  beds,  which  are  piled  up  on  the  couch 
often  found  in  the  living-room.  Superfine  are 
these  big  downy  pillows  in  their  jackets  of 
bright  cloth,  covered  with  embroidered  linen. 
They  are  evidently  the  joy  of  their  owners' 
hearts.  The  old-fashioned  loom  has  not  yet 
disappeared  from  Slovak-land,  or  the  spin- 
ning-wheel either;  and  spinning-bees,  which 
are  as  popular  as  husking-bees  or  apple- 
paring-bees  in  some  parts  of  America,  while 
away  the  long  winter  evenings. 

It  is  too  much  to  expect  of  a  mere  man  that 
he  should  describe  the  beautiful  and  unique 
costumes  of  Slovak  women,  so  I  will  borrow 
Miss  Balch's  description:  — 

Every  little  village  has  its  own  peculiarities  of 
dress,  so  that  its  people  are  distinguishable  to  the 
initiated,  and  this  doubtless  helps  to  give  a  strong 
sense  of  local  solidarity.  Within  the  village  there 
is  the  most  scrupulous  adherence  to  custom.  The 
kerchief  knotted  under  the  chin,  apparently  care- 
lessly, is  in  reality  arranged  in  certain  folds  and  at  a 
certain  angle  precisely  as  prescribed  by  local  usage, 
and  in  a  way  that  is  different  from  that  of  the  next 
place. 

The  colors  are  usually  harmonious  and  brilliant, 
though  in  some  districts  a  wonderful  effectiveness  is 

215 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

gained  by  heavy  embroidery  of  black  and  white,  with 
no  color.  In  many  places  bright-patterned  stuffs, 
usually  in  large  flowered  designs,  are  attractively 
used  for  skirt,  bodice,  and  apron.  The  latter  is  usu- 
ally the  show-piece  in  a  woman's  holiday  costume. 

The  great  beauty  of  these  costumes  is  the  em- 
broidery, which  is,  indeed,  with  song,  the  chief  art  of 
the  Slovak.  The  women  do  this  work  chiefly  in  the 
winter,  when  their  fingers  are  sufficiently  soft  again 
after  the  field  work.  They  are  said  often  to  em- 
broider their  patterns  without  first  drawing  them, 
and  they  work  so  neatly  that  the  underside  is  almost 
as  perfect  as  the  upper.  .  .  . 

Special  units  of  design  often  have  special  names, 
like  the  quilting  patterns  of  our  grandmothers. 
Many  of  them  seem  to  be  quite  fanciful :  the  "lover's 
eye,"  or  the  "little  window,"  may  have  no  visible 
resemblance  to  the  object  named. 

Girls  and  married  women  are  generally  distin- 
guished, the  former  as  a  rule  by  their  long  braids, 
the  latter  by  their  caps,  which  are  usually  hidden, 
however,  under  the  universal  kerchief.  Otherwise, 
the  dress  is  the  same  from  childhood  to  old  age.  If 
the  skirts  of  the  district  are  full  and  short,  they  are 
short  for  grandmother;  and  if  long,  they  are  long 
even  for  the  toddler  of  three  or  four. 

In  many  places  the  women  wear  very  short  skirts 
and  leather  boots  to  the  knees,  like  a  man's.  At  first 
these  boots  strike  the  stranger  as  unfeminine,  but  an 
experience  of  what  mud  can  be  here  soon  converts 
one  to  their  good  sense. 

216 


The  Slovaks 

Except  in  the  matter  of  education,  the 
Slovaks  are  among  the  most  desirable  of  the 
newcomers  to  America,  and  even  in  this  re- 
spect they  are  by  no  means  at  the  foot  of  the 
ladder.  Only  about  thirty  per  cent  of  them 
can  neither  read  nor  write,  and  illiteracy  is 
by  no  means  the  worst  of  faults.  An  educated 
knave  is  usually  a  superlative  knave,  and  an 
honest  Slovak,  who  does  n't  know  his  letters, 
but  knows  the  right  end  of  a  pick  and  shovel, 
and  has  the  brawn  to  wield  them,  is  worth 
far  more  to  America  than  a  lily-fingered  idler 
who  has  the  little  learning  which  is  a  danger- 
ous thing,  that  makes  him  unable  to  dig,  but 
perhaps  not  ashamed  to  beg. 

I  would  not  paint  the  Slovaks  in  too  bright 
colors.  The  love  of  strong  drink  is  no  doubt 
one  of  their  weaknesses,  and  in  this  they  are 
inferior  to  their  southern  neighbors  of  Greece 
and  Italy,  who  often  come  in  the  same  steer- 
age compartment.  But  for  their  intemperate 
habits  they  are  not  altogether  to  blame.  In 
addition  to  their  natural  love  for  strong  fire- 
water, which  they  share  with  all  Northern 
nations,  every  opportunity  and  encourage- 
217 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

ment  is  given  them  to  get  drunk  on  every 
possible  occasion.  The  landed  proprietor, 
whose  land  the  peasant  rents,  is  often  a  dis- 
tiller of  potato  brandy  as  well,  and  is  not 
averse  to  the  peasant's  disposing  of  as  much 
of  his  product  as  possible.  The  Jews,  who 
monopolize  the  retail  liquor  business,  are  also 
money-lenders,  and  often  have  the  peasants 
in  their  power  as  creditors,  and  are  quite 
willing  to  have  them  get  still  further  into  debt 
for  their  drink  bill.  The  Government  gets 
much  of  its  revenue  from  the  sale  of  liquor, 
and  does  not  favor  Blue  Ribbon  societies, 
and  thoroughly  disapproves  of  the  W.  C. 
T.  U.  and  kindred  organizations.  Yet,  let  it 
not  be  thought  that  the  Slovaks  are  a  drunken 
race.  The  emigrants  from  Ireland,  Scotland, 
and  Holland  probably  consume  far  more  hard 
liquor  per  capita  than  the  Slovaks,  and  the 
latter  are  by  no  means  unable  to  appreciate 
the  arguments  for  temperance  which  are  pre- 
sented to  them  with  so  much  cogency  when 
they  reach  America. 

A  specialty  of  the  Slovak  artisan  seems  to 
be  wire-  and  tin-work.  For  centuries,  it  is 
218 


The  Slovaks 

said,  most  of  the  tinware  of  Europe  was  made 
by  Slovaks,  and  Slovak  tinware  factories  in 
different  parts  of  America  are  doing  a  flour- 
ishing business,  because  of  the  inherited  skill 
of  the  workmen  from  the  fatherland.  When 
earthenware  was  more  costly  and  conse- 
quently more  precious  than  now,  the  wan- 
dering Slovak  wire  peddler  was  often  called 
upon  to  mend  the  cracked  pot,  and  it  is  said 
that  his  job  was  not  considered  workman- 
like and  satisfactory  unless  the  old  mended 
pot  rang  like  a  bell. 

The  honesty  of  the  Slovaks  at  home  is 
proverbial.  The  emigrants  who  wish  to  go 
to  America  can  almost  invariably  obtain  a 
loan  at  the  bank,  which  is  repaid  within  a 
few  months.  If  for  any  reason  the  emigrant 
is  unable  to  pay,  his  brothers  or  his  relatives 
assume  the  debt.  When  he  reaches  America, 
the  Slovak  does  not  forget  the  old  home. 
Until  he  is  joined  by  his  family  in  America, 
and  has  severed  the  old  ties  with  Hungary, 
it  is  said  that  as  a  rule  the  Slovak  sends  home 
on  an  average  over  one  hundred  dollars  a 
year.  This  amount  is  usually  equal  to  the 
219 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

annual  income  of  the  family  to  which  it  comes, 
and  the  millions  of  dollars  that  flow  back  to 
the  old  home  speak  volumes  for  the  gener- 
osity, the  kindliness,  and  the  integrity  of  the 
Slovak  emigrant. 

There  is  constant  friction  between  the 
Slav  and  the  Magyar,  and  this  accentuates 
the  uneasiness  of  the  former,  and  accounts 
for  not  a  few  of  the  more  than  half-million 
Slovaks  in  America,  where  they  can  speak 
their  own  language  and  freely  read  their  own 
papers  and  books.  The  policy  of  Hungary 
is  to  Magyarize  all  the  peoples  within  her 
boundaries.  I  cannot  go  into  the  justice  or 
injustice  of  this  effort  in  this  connection,  but 
it  is  interesting  to  note  that,  though  this 
Magyarizing  tendency  of  the  dominant  race 
in  Hungary  tends  to  drive  many  a  Slovak  to 
America,  the  more  gentle  process  by  which 
his  children  are  Americanized  in  our  public 
schools  is  not  resented,  and  apparently  goes 
on  apace,  from  the  moment  he  sets  foot  on 
the  gangplank  at  Ellis  Island.  Not  the  least 
desirable  of  the  newcomers  who  step  over 
this  gangplank  are  the  Slovaks  of  Hungary. 


XV 

ON  THE  EASTERNMOST  EDGE  OF  AUSTRIA- 
HUNGARY —  THE  BUKOWINA  AND  TRAN- 
SYLVANIA 

The  Varied  History  of  the  Bukowina  —  Its  Many  Rulers  — 
At  the  Window  of  the  Schwarzer  Adler  —  The  Many  Sights 
of  Czernowitz  —  The  Dangers  of  Photography — Transyl- 
vania, the  Switzerland  of  the  East  —  An  Heroic  People  — 
Stanch  Protestants  —  The  Eccentricities  of  the  Old  Nobles 
—  A  Bit  of  Dry  Humor  —  Advice  to  the  American  Globe- 
Girdler. 

THE  Bukowina,  though  now  a  province 
of  Austria,  was  originally  a  part  of  Transyl- 
vania, which  now  belongs  to  Hungary;  so 
for  the  purposes  of  this  book  we  may  con- 
sider them  together  in  the  part  of  the  work 
devoted  to  Hungary,  since  they  are  contigu- 
ous provinces,  with  many  of  the  same  char- 
acteristics of  climate,  natural  scenery,  pro- 
ductions, and  people. 

The  seven  hundred  thousand  people  of 
the  Bukowina  were  organized  as  a  separate 
crown  land  of  Austria  about  the  middle  of 
the  last  century.  For  two  hundred  and  fifty 

221 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

years  before  1777,  when  it  was  ceded  to 
Austria,  it  was  ruled  by  the  Turk  and  suf- 
fered the  unspeakable  horrors  of  frequent 
wars,  its  soil  often  being  dyed  red  with  the 
blood  of  its  sons.  It  is  a  mountainous  coun- 
try, with  the  exception  of  the  valley  of  the 
Pruth,  its  chief  river;  and  its  only  consid- 
erable city  is  Czernowitz,  its  capital. 

Come  with  me  to  the  Schwarzer  Adler 
(the  Black  Eagle)  in  Czernowitz,  and  let  us 
see  what  is  novel  and  interesting  from  the 
window  that  overlooks  the  principal  square 
of  the  town.  Do  you  confess  that  you  never 
heard  of  Czernowitz  before  ?  Yet  it  is  a  city 
with  fine  public  buildings,  a  flourishing  uni- 
versity, an  archbishop's  palace,  and  a  history 
stretching  back  for  hundreds  of  years. 

The  view  from  our  window  is  peculiarly 
fascinating,  because  it  reveals  so  many  types 
of  the  genus  homo.  There  is  the  hobble  skirt 
of  1912  walking  the  street  with  the  sheepskin 
coat  of  1219.  There  is  the  latest  obtainable 
Paris  peach-basket  hat  hobnobbing  with  the 
bright  plaid  shawl  thrown  gracefully  over 
the  head,  and  looking  a  thousand  times  more 

222 


The  Bukowina  and  Transylvania 

beautiful  and  comfortable  than  the  flaunting 
foreign  headgear.  There  is  a  group  of  stu- 
dents with  bright  German  corps  caps,  sabre 
scars  on  their  cheeks,  and  a  big  dog  tagging 
their  heels.  They  are  passing  a  group  of 
barelegged  peasants  from  the  country,  in 
woolly  skin  coats  and  caps.  There  are  Ru- 
thenians,  Poles,  Jews,  Saxons,  and  Rouma- 
nians, the  latter  race  probably  outnumbering 
all  the  others. 

The  market,  which  is  constantly  in  opera- 
tion from  early  morning  until  midnight,  is  a 
blaze  of  colored  costumes,  highly  colored 
fruit,  and  colored  lamps  at  night.  Oranges, 
lemons,  apples,  grapes,  figs  are  displayed, 
while  the  market-women  have  borrowed  the 
gold  of  the  orange,  the  pink  flush  of  the 
apple,  and  the  purple  of  the  grapes  and  figs 
with  which  to  dye  and  embroider  their  skin 
coats,  which  are  often  most  elaborate  and 
costly. 

There  goes  a  primitive  watering-cart,  con- 
sisting of  a  hogshead  mounted  on  wheels, 
with  a  long,  flexible  leather  spout  sticking 
out  behind.  As  the  cart  is  driven  along  the 
223 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

dusty  street,  a  man  walks  behind,  swinging 
the  spout  from  right  to  left,  and  leaving  a 
meagre  trickle  of  water  behind  him. 

If  America  does  not  know  much  of  Czer- 
nowitz,  Czernowitz  is  never  allowed  to 
forget  America.  Half  a  dozen  steamship 
agencies  flaunt  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  and  in- 
vite the  passerby  to  take  a  steerage  passage 
for  the  land  beyond  the  great  water.  An 
"American  House  Pullman"  directly  oppo- 
site our  hotel  sells  "Walkover"  shoes  and 
other  familiar  articles  of  wearing  apparel, 
while  American  photographic  establishments 
abound,  where  you  can  obtain  twelve  "  stuck  " 
(postage-stamp  size)  of  your  counterfeit  pre- 
sentment for  sixty  heller  or  twelve  cents. 

If  you  should  not  care  to  buy  your  pic- 
tures at  the  rate  of  a  cent  a  copy,  but  wish 
to  take  photographs  of  the  natives,  you  will 
have  no  easy  task,  for  you  will  be  besieged 
by  a  pushing,  eager  mob  all  anxious  to  be 
"took."  Old  market-women  will  peer  into 
the  finder  and  will  pose  beatifically  for  their 
pictures,  until  half  a  dozen  small  boys  crowd 
in  front  of  the  lens  and  destroy  the  focus. 
224 


The  Bukowina  and  Transylvania 

So  alarmed  was  I  lest  my  wife,  who  was  try- 
ing to  take  a  picture  in  the  market  square, 
should  be  crushed  by  these  too  eager  aspir- 
ants for  the  immortality  of  the  camera,  that 
I  had  to  crowd  my  way  through,  pushing 
boys  to  right  and  left,  until  I  made  a  path 
for  her  to  escape  to  the  hotel. 

Bukowina  is  not  by  any  means  the  least 
interesting  part  of  Francis  Joseph's  domin- 
ions. Much  of  it  is  peopled  by  Roumanians, 
who  pride  themselves  on  being  descendants 
of  the  old  Roman  legionaries  and  speaking 
a  language  more  like  the  ancient  Latin  than 
the  Italians  themselves.  This  pride  of  race 
has  received  a  severe  shock  from  the  re- 
searches of  some  modern  scholars,  who  deny 
the  Latin  origin  of  the  Roumanians.  The 
compatriots  of  these  Roumanians  have  es- 
tablished an  independent  kingdom  of  their 
own  in  the  land  across  the  border  from  the 
Bukowina.  Roumania  is  indeed  the  most 
prosperous  of  all  the  smaller  kingdoms  of 
southeastern  Europe. 

Bordering  on  the  Bukowina  and  also  on 
Roumania  is  Transylvania,  the  most  pic- 
225 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

turesque  of  all  the  domains  of  Hungary. 
This  is  the  Switzerland  of  southeastern  Eu- 
rope. Here  high  mountains,  bold  granite 
crags,  gentler  hills  clothed  with  forests  to 
their  top,  rushing  streams,  feathery  water- 
falls make  the  region  of  the  Carpathians  ex- 
ceedingly attractive.  They  only  need  to  be 
better  known,  and  to  have  more  and  better 
hotels,  to  rival  the  most  celebrated  moun- 
tain resorts  in  the  world. 

Transylvania  has  played  no  mean  part  in 
the  history  of  Europe.  Like  the  adjoining 
parts  of  Hungary,  her  task  was  to  repel  the 
hordes  of  Turks  who  were  constantly  cross- 
ing her  borders  and  ravaging  her  fair  terri- 
tory. Since  the  Transylvanians  were  the 
nearest  neighbors  of  the  Turks,  they  had 
to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  battle,  and  right 
bravely  did  they  stand,  time  and  time  again, 
between  the  rest  of  Europe  and  the  terrible 
armies  of  the  Mussulmans,  while  Germany, 
Austria,  and  France  looked  on  in  apathetic 
selfishness.  All  Hungary  was  engaged  in  this 
centuries-long  conflict  of  Christian  against 
Moslem,  but  she  had  to  look  at  times  to  Tran- 
226 


The  Bukowina  and  Transylvania 

sylvania  for  her  leaders.  The  Transylva- 
nians  were  stanch  Protestants  after  the  Re- 
formation, and  when  Ferdinand  II  inherited 
the  crowns  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary,  and 
began  to  persecute  the  Bohemian  Protest- 
ants, the  Hungarians  elected  a  brave  Tran- 
sylvanian  noble,  Bethlen  Gabor,  as  their 
king.  He  flew  to  the  rescue  of  Bohemia; 
but  when  at  the  disastrous  battle  of  the 
White  Mountain  the  Bohemians  were  over- 
whelmingly defeated,  Bethlen  Gabor  had  to 
give  up  the  crown  of  Hungary  and  retreat 
to  the  fastnesses  of  Transylvania. 

We  are  told  that  the  old  Transylvanian 
nobles  were  a  class  by  themselves,  retaining 
their  old  feudal  customs  long  after  the  rest 
of  Europe  had  given  them  up.  Some  of  them 
reveled  in  their  eccentricities.  There  are  sto- 
ries of  an  old  noble  who  was  found  dressed 
in  ancient  Magyar  clothes,  drilling  a  flock  of 
geese  as  though  they  were  soldiers.  Another 
was  accustomed  to  camp  out  in  his  park  in 
summer,  striking  his  tents  in  the  morning  and 
pitching  them  again  at  night;  while  yet  an- 
other of  whom  we  have  heard,  who  wished 
^227 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

to  keep  his  guest  for  a  longer  visit,  had  the 
wheels  of  the  guest's  carnage  taken  off  and 
hung  up  in  a  high  tree,  where  only  a  certain 
gypsy  could  climb  to  get  them  down.  The 
gypsy  was  then  sent  out  of  town,  and  the  en- 
forced visit  of  the  guest  was  continued. 

The  dry  humor  of  the  old  Magyar  nobles 
of  Transylvania  is  illustrated  by  a  story 
told  by  Mr.  Colquhoun  in  his  book,  "  The 
Whirlpool  of  Europe."  One  of  these  nobles, 
though  rich,  was  noted  for  his  shabby  clothes. 
On  one  occasion  a  young  farmer,  desiring 
another  farmhand  and  seeing  this  shabby  old 
man,  cried  out,  "  Hi !  old  man,  do  you  want 
some  work?"  The  old  man  nodded  assent. 
"Well,  you  can  come  along  to-morrow  and 
look  after  some  sheep.  Bring  any  of  your  bits 
of  things  or  animals  with  you;  there 's  plenty 
of  room  on  my  farm."  The  next  day,  as  the 
young  farmer  walked  across  his  fields,  he 
saw  a  cloud  of  dust  coming  up  the  road. 
Presently  there  emerged  from  it  a  herd  of 
cows,  horses,  and  sheep,  hundreds  of  animals 
with  their  drovers.  This  cavalcade  swept 
past  the  astonished  man,  and  behind  it  was  a 
228 


KRONSTADT,    THE    CAPITAL    OF    TRANSYLVANIA 


THE    MARKET    SQUARE    OF    KRONSTADT 


The  Bukowina  and  Transylvania 

huge  wagon,  creaking  and  groaning,  laden 
with  heavy  furniture,  in  front  of  which  sat 
his  shabby  acquaintance  of  the  day  before. 
"  You  told  me  to  bring  my  animals  and  bits 
of  things,"  said  the  old  man;  "and  there 
they  are." 

While  the  chief  landed  proprietors  of 
Transylvania  are  Magyars  and  Saxons,  the 
bulk  of  the  population  are  Roumanians,  and 
from  their  ranks  go  largely  the  emigrants  to 
America.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven 
thousand  emigrants  from  Hungary  in  a  single 
recent  year,'se ven  eighths  of  whom  went  to  the 
United  States,  about  one  sixth,  or  nearly  thirty 
thousand,  spoke  the  Roumanian  language. 
That  this  people  has  large  capacity  for  self- 
rule,  and  that  they  will  prosper  wherever  they 
take  root,  is  shown  by  the  extremely  flourish- 
ing condition  of  Roumania  as  compared  with 
many  of  her  neighbors. 

Brasso  (or  Kronstadt,  as  the  Germans  call 
it),  the  chief  town  of  Transylvania,  is  a  bright 
and  enterprising  little  city,  most  beautifully 
situated,  with  fine  mountains  to  the  east, 
and  the  interminable  rich  plains  of  Hungary 
229 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

stretching  to  the  west  as  far  as  Budapest.  I 
would  advise  the  American  globe-girdlei, 
who  is  seeking  for  new  worlds  to  conquer,  to 
spend  a  summer  in  Transylvania.  He  will 
find  no  more  charming  scenery  and  no  more 
hospitable  and  likable  people,  no  more  genu- 
inely primitive  and  interesting  life  and  cus- 
toms, in  the  five  continents  than  among  the 
Carpathians  of  Transylvania. 


XVI 

THE    GREAT   CITIES    OF   THE   DUAL 
MONARCHY 

The  Sameness  of  Great  Cities  —  Emigrants  largely  from 
the  Country — The  Cities  of  Austria-Hungary  of  Especial 
Interest  —  Cracow,  Lemberg,  Kronstadt,  and  Innsbruck,  with 
their  Interesting  Peculiarities  — Vienna,  the  Royal  City  — 
A  City  of  Musicians  —  The  Beautiful  Church  of  St.  Stephen 
— The  Wonders  of  the  Imperial  Treasury —  The  Ring-Strasse 
and  its  Public  Buildings  — The  Capital  of  Bohemia— The 
Whirligigs  of  Time  —  Where  the  Bohemian  Nobles  were  ex- 
ecuted—  The  Karls-Briicke  and  its  Sixteen  Arches  —  An  In- 
teresting Burying-Ground — The  Apostles'  Clock,  and  its 
Curious  Story  —  The  Three  Finest  Cities  in  Europe  —  Buda- 
pest, the  City  of  Palaces  —  A  City  little  known  in  America 

—  A  Hungarian  Testimony  to  American  Life  —  The  Magnifi- 
cent Bridges  of  Budapest — The  Regalia  of  the  Royal  Palace 

—  An   Italian  City  on   Austrian  Soil  —  A  City  that   looks 
toward   America  —  Starting  for   the    New  World  —  What 
awaits  the  Emigrant  beyond  the  Seas. 

THIS  book  has  little  to  do  with  the  cities 
of  Austria-Hungary,  for  its  principal  object  is 
to  acquaint  the  reader  with  the  countries  that 
makeup  the  Dual  Empire,  their  history,and  the 
many  races  who  inhabit  them.  To  study  the 
racial  characteristics  of  a  people,  it  is  well-nigh 
useless  to  go  to  their  great  cities,  since  the 
leading  capitals  of  the  Western  world  seem 
231 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

to  be  run  in  one  mould,  —  the  same  types  of 
streets,  largely  the  same  kinds  of  buildings, 
public  and  private;  the  same  street-cars  go 
clanging  through  the  paved  thoroughfares; 
through  the  same  kinds  of  tunnels  one  dives 
down  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth;  the  same 
kind  of  gas  and  electricity  lights  these  streets; 
the  same  great  water  mains  and  sewers  pro- 
vide for  the  health  and  comfort  of  the  peo- 
pie. 

It  is  to  the  country  that  we  must  go  to  find 
the  peculiar  characteristics  which  differ- 
entiate one  land  from  another.  It  is  almost 
exclusively,  too,  from  the  country  districts 
that  the  emigrants  have  come  to  our  Ameri- 
can seaports.  Fortunate  it  is  for  America 
that  her  levy  of  new  citizens  has  come  from 
the  country  lanes  rather  than  from  the  city 
streets  of  Austria-Hungary,  for  better  brain 
and  better  brawn,  better  morals  and  more 
wholesome  habits  are  found  among  country 
than  city  emigrants. 

However,  it  is  of  interest,  perhaps,  to  write 
briefly  of  some  of  the  greater  cities  of  the 
empire.^  There  are  many  of  especial  interest 
232 


Great  Cities  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 

that  are  little  known  to  Americans  who  study 
at  home,  or  for  that  matter  equally  unknown 
to  the  American  tourist, —  cities  like  Cra- 
cow, with  its  wealth  of  historic  lore,  the  city 
where  Copernicus  was  educated,  where  Peter 
Vischer  wrought,  and  where  scores  of  less 
distinguished  men,  who  have  blessed  their 
day  and  generation,  have  flourished. 

Lemberg,  the  capital  of  Galicia,  is  scarcely 
less  interesting  from  the  historic  or  from  the 
modern  point  of  view.  Of  Zara  we  have 
spoken  in  another  chapter.  Kronstadt,  or 
Brasso,  as  it  is  called  by  the  Hungarians,  is  a 
beautiful  little  city  of  Transylvania,  almost 
in  the  heart  of  the  Carpathians.  Debreczen, 
the  great  Protestant  centre  of  Hungary,  the 
city  of  all  others  most  hospitable  to  Kossuth 
and  his  doctrines  and  where  he  proclaimed  the 
independence  of  Hungary,  is  another  inter- 
esting city.  With  its  wide  streets,  its  beau- 
tiful churches,  its  university,  and  its  public 
buildings,  it  would  match,  for  substantial  ele- 
gance, any  city  of  its  size  in  America. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Dual  Empire  is 
Innsbruck,  perhaps  the  most  charmingly  sit- 
233 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

uated  large  town  in  Europe.  The  Hofkirche, 
with  its  twenty-eight  statues  of  kings  and 
queens  and  emperors  that  surround  the  great 
marble  monument  of  Emperor  Maximilian, 
is  worth  crossing  the  ocean  to  see.  These 
twenty-eight  potentates  were  the  contempo- 
raries and  ancestors  of  Maximilian,  and  re- 
present the  monarchs  of  all  the  great  countries 
of  Europe.  One  could  study  history  to  ad- 
mirable advantage  if  he  could  spend  a  whole 
summer  holiday  in  the  Hofkirche  of  Inns- 
bruck. All  these  statues  were  cast  by  men 
of  talent,  the  best  artists  in  bronze  of  their 
time,  Stephen  Godl,  Gregor  Loffler,  and 
others;  but  two  were  made  by  Peter  Vis- 
cher,  the  great  artist  of  Nuremberg,  and  they 
stand  out  among  all  the  others,  even  to  the 
eye  of  the  inexperienced  layman  in  matters 
artistic,  as  finer  than  all  the  rest.  These 
are  the  statues  of  King  Arthur  of  England 
and  of  "Theodoric  the  Good."  The  splendid 
pose  of  King  Arthur,  the  strong,  graceful, 
and  easy  way  in  which  he  stands  upon  his 
legs,  and  looks  out  under  the  visor  of  his 
bronze  helmet,  impresses  the  most  careless 
234 


Great  Cities  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 

tourist.  The  other  great  statue  in  the  Hof- 
kirche  of  Innsbruck  is  that  of  Theodore  the 
Good.  He  is  not  so  heroic  a  figure  as  some 
of  the  others.  His  coat  of  mail  is  not  so  heavy. 
His  jeweled  decorations  are  not  so  gorgeous. 
His  titles  are  not  so  numerous,  or  his  list  of 
battles  and  victories  so  long;  but  he  stands 
out  in  proud  preeminence  among  all  the 
twenty-eight  kings  and  queens  as  "the  Good." 
All  of  them  are  "Majesties,"  some  of  them 
are  dubbed  "the  Great,"  but  Theodore  alone 
is  called  "the  Good." 

The  great  cities  of  Austria-Hungary,  from 
the  standpoint  of  population,  are,  in  the  or- 
der named,  Vienna,  Budapest,  Prague,  and 
Trieste.  Vienna  is  truly  a  royal  city,  and 
since  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  has 
played  a  great  part  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
The  Romans  seized  the  ancient  Celtic  settle- 
ment which  was  here  established  just  before 
the  birth  of  Christ.  Here  Marcus  Aurelius 
died,  toward  the  end  of  the  second  century. 
Here  Charlemagne  ruled,  and  Frederick 
Barbarossa.  During  the  Crusades,  Vienna 
was  a  halting-place  for  the  knights,  and  an 
235 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

important  centre  for  their  operations.  For 
more  than  six  hundred  years  past,  Vienna 
has  been  the  seat  of  the  Hapsburg  Dynasty, 
since  in  1276  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg  defeated 
Ottokar  of  Bohemia.  More  than  once  Vienna 
was  besieged  by  the  Turks,  who  insolently 
set  up  their  battering-rams  under  its  very 
walls;  and  here  they  were  defeated  in  one  of 
the  world's  greatest  battles  by  John  Sobieski, 
Poland's  greatest  king. 

But  all  the  memories  of  Vienna  are  not 
warlike,  for  here  some  of  the  greatest  mu- 
sicians of  the  world  have  had  their  home. 
Gluck,  Haydn,  Mozart,  and  Beethoven  the 
Viennese  are  proud  to  rank  among  their  for- 
mer citizens,  and  some  of  the  world's  well- 
known  architects  and  artists  have  also  made 
this  city  their  home.  The  principal  business 
street  boasts  the  rather  lugubrious  name  of 
the  Graben,  or  Grave,  for  it  was  formerly  the 
deep  moat  which  surrounded  the  fortifica- 
tions of  the  twelfth  century.  This  was  after- 
wards filled  up,  and  has  become  one  of  the 
most  lively  and  attractive  shopping  streets  of 
Europe. 

236 


Great  Cities  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 

The  Church  of  St.  Stephen  is  surpassed 
for  size  and  beauty,  or  historic  interest,  by 
very  few  cathedrals  in  the  world.  In  spite  of 
its  exceedingly  gloomy  interior,  when  the 
eyes  become  accustomed  to  the  dim  religious 
light,  they  find  architectural  and  artistic  treas- 
ures such  as  are  found  in  few  other  cathe- 
drals, while  the  view  from  the  tower,  looking 
off  over  the  historic  battle-fields  of  Lobau, 
Wagram,  and  Essling,  recalls  the  bad,  brave 
days  of  old,  when  fighting  was  more  the 
world's  business  than  it  is  to-day. 

The  museums,  libraries,  and  treasure- 
chambers  of  Vienna  cannot  be  exhausted  by 
any  hasty  visit  or  brief  description.  In  the 
Imperial  Treasury  alone  are  found  a  multi- 
tude of  articles  of  absorbing  historic  interest. 
The  crown  of  Charlemagne,  for  instance,  as 
well  as  his  swords,  his  coronation  robe,  his 
girdle,  and  his  book  of  the  gospels;  the  im- 
perial jewels,  one  of  which  alone  is  valued 
at  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  would  in- 
terest the  average  traveler,  while  the  scholar 
and  the  archaeologist  would  find  more  to  his 
liking  in  the  Imperial  Museums.  Here  are 
237 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

magnificent  prehistoric  collections  from  the 
flint  period  and  the  bronze  age,  and  an  eth- 
nographical collection  that  embraces  all  the 
ancient  nations  of  the  world.  The  Zoologi- 
cal Museum  would  delight  the  student  of 
natural  history,  and  a  wonderful  Art  History 
Museum,  which  perhaps  surpasses  all  the 
others  in  importance,  is  found  in  this  impres- 
sive old  city.  Here  the  student  of  history 
and  antiquities  would  be  particularly  inter- 
ested in  the  so-called  salt-cellar  of  Benvenuto 
Cellini,  a  remarkable  table  ornament  of  pure 
gold,  made  by  the  great  artist  for  Francis  I 
of  France.  Here,  too,  is  a  rock-crystal  gob- 
let, from  which  Philip  the  Good  of  Burgundy 
drank  the  wine  of  his  native  vineyards.  The 
night-gear,  so-called,  of  the  Empress  Maria 
Theresa,  embracing  her  toilet  articles,  break- 
fast service,  and  so  forth,  are  some  of  the 
treasures  of  the  Art  History  Museum. 

The  Ring-Strasse  is,  on  the  whole,  the  most 
famous  and  interesting  street  of  Vienna.  It 
is  nearly  two  hundred  feet  in  width,  remark- 
able in  that  respect  among  the  streets  of  the 
Old  World;  but  it  is  a  modern  street  in  an 
238 


Great  Cities  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 

ancient  city,  for  it  was  constructed  only  about 
fifty  years  ago  on  the  site  of  the  old  ramparts, 
and  now  completely  encircles  the  city.  On 
this  famous  street  are  splendid  public  build- 
ings, like  the  Exchange,  the  University,  the 
Houses  of  Parliament,  and  the  Palace  of 
Justice. 

In  this  magnificent  city  Emperor  Francis 
Joseph  I  has  held  sway  for  more  than  sixty 
years,  occasionally  spending  a  few  days  at 
Budapest  in  a  palace  even  more  magnificent 
than  his  favorite  home  in  Vienna.  It  is  a 
source  of  considerable  irritation  to  the  Hun- 
garians that  their  king  spends  so  little  time 
in  their  capital,  though  they  have  built  for 
him  perhaps  the  finest  palace,  certainly  the 
one  that  has  the  grandest  site,  of  any  in 
Europe. 

Something  over  two  hundred  miles  from 
Vienna  is  Prague,  the  capital  of  Bohemia. 
Here  we  find  ourselves  in  a  totally  different 
atmosphere.  In  Vienna  German  is  spoken 
largely,  and  one  could  easily  imagine  himself 
in  one  of  the  great  capitals  of  the  German 
239 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

Empire.  In  Prague  it  would  be  impossible  to 
make  any  such  mistake,  for  if  you  should 
address  a  man  on  the  street  in  German,  he 
would  very  likely  pretend  that  he  did  not 
understand  you,  and  would  require  an  inter- 
preter if  you  were  not  facile  with  your  Bo- 
hemian. Here,  too,  we  find  a  great,  prosper- 
ous city  of  intense  historic  interest.  This  was 
the  early  home  of  martyrs,  heroes,  scholars, 
and  statesmen.  It  was  once  the  centre  of  the 
greatest  Protestant  power  in  Europe.  Its 
streets  have  more  than  once  been  soaked 
with  the  blood  of  the  wise  and  the  good. 

Under  an  ancient  powder  tower,  rich  in 
curious  carvings,  we  pass  from  the  "  new 
city,"  which  is  only  five  hundred  years  old, 
to  the  "  old  city,"  which  is  more  than  twice 
as  ancient;  and  at  once  we  are  in  the  midst 
of  historic  events  that  stir  our  blood.  There 
is  the  old  Council  House,  where  in  1621  the 
twenty-one  Protestant  nobles  of  Bohemia 
were  led  out  to  martyrdom;  and  there  is  the 
public  square  where  one  by  one,  throughout 
a  long  summer's  day,  they  were  beheaded. 
There  in  the  same  Council  House  is  the 
240 


Great  Cities  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 

little  low,  white-washed  cell,  in  which  one 
cannot  stand  upright,  where  they  spent  their 
last  night  on  earth  in  prayer  and  the  singing 
of  joyful  psalms ;  and  on  the  great  Charles 
Bridge,  near  by,  for  ten  years,  their  heads 
were  displayed  in  an  iron  cage  as  a  terrible 
warning  to  all  "  heretics."  But  such  are  the 
whirligigs  of  time,  the  city  authorities  of  to- 
day are  debating  the  question  of  erecting  in 
the  very  centre  of  this  same  square  a  great 
monument  to  John  Huss,  the  chief  heretic 
and  reformer  of  1621. 

In  the  old  Council  House  where  the  Pro- 
testant nobles  were  imprisoned  on  their  last 
night  on  earth,  a  great  and  noble  painting, 
representing  John  Huss  before  King  Sigis- 
mund  and  the  Council  of  Constance,  is  the 
chief  ornament.  There  stands  John  Huss, 
the  most  striking  figure  on  the  wonderful 
canvas,  pale  and  emaciated,  to  be  sure,  but 
resolute  still,  standing  before  his  enemies 
who  are  pronouncing  sentence  upon  him, 
and  saying  in  every  lineament  of  his  firm 
and  noble  face,  "I  cannot  recant,  so  help 
me  God!" 

241 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans  ' 

The  chief  street  of  Prague  is  also  called 
the  Graben,  and  like  the  street  of  the  same 
name  in  Vienna  was  formerly  the  moat  sur- 
rounding the  citadel. 

The  Karls-Briicke  across  the  Moldau  rests 
on  sixteen  arches,  while  many  statues  and 
groups  of  saints  adorn  the  buttresses  of  the 
bridge.  The  sixteenth  of  May  is  a  great  day 
on  the  Charles  Bridge,  for  on  that  day  a 
great  multitude  of  pilgrims,  numbering  many 
thousands,  flock  thither,  and  especially  to 
the  site  where  a  slab  of  marble  marks  the 
exact  place  where  St.  John  Nepomuc,  the 
patron  saint  of  Bohemia,  was  thrown  into 
the  river  more  than  six  hundred  years  ago, 
by  order  of  Wenceslas  IV,  because  he  would 
not  tell  what  the  Empress  had  confided  to 
him  in  the  confessional.  The  legend  tells  us 
that  his  body  floated  down  the  Moldau  for  a 
long  time,  with  five  brilliant  stars  suspended 
over  it,  marking  its  passage. 

Another   interesting   place   which   every 

traveler  visits  is  the   old  Jewish  Burying- 

Ground.  These  venerable  moss-grown  stones, 

covered  with  Hebrew  characters,  mark  the 

242 


THE    CHARLES    BRIDGE,    PRAGUE 

With  the  Hradschin,  or  Citadel,  containing  the  Palaces,  the 
Cathedral,  etc.,  in  the  Distance 


KARLSTEIN,    OLD    CASTLE    NEAR    PRAGUE 


Great  Cities  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 

last  resting-places  of  many  a  distinguished 
son  of  Abraham.  On  some  of  the  stones  are 
symbols  that  tell  of  the  tribe  to  which  the 
deceased  belonged,  a  pitcher  designating  the 
tribe  of  Levi,  two  hands  the  sons  of  Aaron, 
and  so  on.  On  many  of  the  graves  we  find 
piles  of  small  stones,  which  we  learn  were 
placed  there,  as  tokens  of  respect  and  affec- 
tion, by  the  descendants  of  those  who  lie 
beneath  the  mound.  Close  by  is  one  of  the 
oldest  synagogues  in  the  world,  which  tradi- 
tion tells  us  was  built  by  the  first  Jews  who 
escaped  from  Jerusalem  after  its  final  de- 
struction. Of  course  it  has  been  rebuilt  more 
than  once  since  that  ancient  day,  even  if 
the  tradition  is  correct;  and  it  cannot  boast 
to-day  of  much  beauty  to  match  its  historic 
interest. 

Perhaps  the  object  that  excites  the  most 
present-day  interest  in  Prague  is  the  Apos- 
tles' Clock  in  the  tower  of  the  Council  House. 
Once  an  hour  an  expectant  throng  gathers 
on  the  sidewalk  opposite  the  Council  House; 
and,  when  the  moment  arrives,  a  skeleton 
representing  Father  Time  takes  hold  of  a 
243 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

cord,  which  he  pulls  with  his  grim  and  bony 
hand,  thus  ringing  a  bell.  Then  two  little 
windows  of  stained  glass  mysteriously  slide 
open,  and  life-sized  figures  of  the  apostles 
appear.  Matthew,  John,  and  all  the  rest  are 
seen  first  at  the  left-hand  window.  They 
turn  squarely  around,  and  look  up  and  down 
the  street.  Then  each  passes  to  the  second 
window,  turns  squarely  around  once  more, 
looks  up  and  down  the  street  again,  and 
passes  on  out  of  sight.  The  twelve  follow 
in  solemn  silence,  while  skeleton  Time  tolls 
the  bell.  Last  of  all  comes  Peter,  whereupon 
a  cock,  which  is  roosting  over  the  apostles' 
windows,  flaps  his  wings,  and  utters  a  lugu- 
brious crow.  The  windows  close  upon  the 
scene,  and  all  is  still  again  for  another  hour, 
when  the  apostles  and  the  skeleton  and  the 
rooster  go  through  with  the  same  perform- 
ances for  another  gaping  crowd. 

For  a  curious  story  connected  with  this 
old  clock,  that  well  illustrates  the  barbar- 
ism of  those  cruel  days,  I  am  indebted  to 
an  old-time  resident  of  Prague,  who  vouches 
for  its  substantial  accuracy.  Before  Colum- 
244 


Great  Cities  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 

bus  discovered  America  this  clock  was  built, 
and  even  then  was  the  wonder  and  pride  of 
the  city.  The  skilled  mechanician  that  set  it 
going  was  induced  to  build  another  just  like 
it  for  a  rival  city.  This  greatly  angered  the 
Pragueites,  who  wanted  a  monopoly  of  apos- 
tle clocks  of  that  sort  So  what  did  they  do 
but  catch  the  inventor  and  builder,  and  put 
out  both  his  eyes,  so  that  he  could  never 
make  another  clock.  But  this  blind  Samson, 
like  him  of  old,  had  his  revenge.  He  asked 
to  be  taken  once  more  to  his  loved  clock, 
that  he  might  feel  of  its  curious  machinery 
and  say  a  last  fond  farewell  to  his  handiwork. 
Such  a  reasonable  request  could  hardly  be 
denied,  even  by  the  savages  who  lived  in 
Prague  five  centuries  ago.  So  the  clock- 
maker  was  led  up  into  the  tower,  and  he 
was  allowed  to  take  hold  once  more  of  the 
beloved  machinery.  As  soon  as  he  had  firmly 
grasped  it,  with  one  tremendous  wrench  he 
tore  cogs  and  wheels  and  balances  apart,  and 
in  an  instant  it  was  a  hopeless  wreck.  There 
was  no  other  man  in  the  world  who  could 
repair  the  damage;  the  blind  clockmaker 
245 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

alone  knew  the  secret  of  the  mechanism, 
and  for  a  hundred  years  it  stood  idle  and 
useless,  a  monument  to  the  folly  and  jeal- 
ousy of  Prague.  At  length,  after  several 
generations,  a  clockmaker  was  born  skillful 
enough  to  repair  the  damage  of  the  blind 
inventor;  and  ever  since  the  old  clock  has 
been  in  charge  of  this  man  and  his  descend- 
ants, who  to-day  have  a  fine  jewelry  and 
watchmakers'  shop  on  a  corner  opposite  the 
Council  House,  and  they  alone  know  the 
secret  of  the  mechanism  of  the  Apostles' 
Clock.  A  similar  story  is  told  of  more  than 
one  other  clock  in  Europe,  but  all  the  legends 
of  the  sort  started,  I  imagine,  from  the  Apos- 
tles' Clock  in  the  tower  of  the  Council  House 
of  Prague,  an  object  which  excites  more  pre- 
sent-day interest  than  any  other  one  thing  in 
the  city. 

In  Prague,  too,  there  is  an  Imperial  Palace, 
which  has  been  occupied  by  many  a  historic 
family  of  the  ancient  kings  of  Bohemia,  but  is 
seldom  honored  in  these  days  by  a  visit  from 
Emperor  Francis  Joseph. 

Before  leaving  Prague,  we  should  in  im- 
246 


Great  Cities  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 

agination  ascend  the  White  Hill,  some  three 
miles  to  the  west  of  the  city,  where  on  the 
8th  of  November,  1620,  as  we  have  seen  in 
another  chapter,  the  fatal  battle  was  fought 
which  decided  the  fate  of  Protestantism  in 
Bohemia,  as  well  as  the  liberties  of  the  peo- 
ple for  many  succeeding  generations. 

It  would  surprise  many  of  my  readers, 
perhaps,  if  I  should  say  that,  were  I  asked 
to  choose  the  three  finest  cities  in  Europe, 
possibly  in  the  world,  I  should  name  Stock- 
holm, Geneva,  and  Budapest;  and  the  great- 
est of  these  (the  largest,  at  least)  is  Budapest. 
To  be  sure,  Paris  and  London  and  Berlin  and 
Vienna  are  larger,  but  none  of  them  has  the 
superb  situation  of  these  three  cities :  Stock- 
holm on  its  impetuous  river  flowing  into  the 
lovely  Malar  near  by;  Geneva  spanning  the 
Rhone,  skirting  its  wonderful  lake  and  nest- 
ling at  the  foot  of  the  Alps;  Budapest  on  a 
more  lordly  river  still,  the  mighty  Danube, 
flowing  through  the  very  heart  of  the  double 
city,  Buda  on  the  one  side  and  Pesth  on  the 
other,  spanned  by  some  of  the  noblest  bridges 
in  the  world,  while  magnificent  palaces,  ca- 
247 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

thedrals,  and  parliament  buildings  climb  the 
high  banks  on  either  side. 

Genoa  is  called  the  "City  of  Palaces,"  and 
to  Venice  the  name  is  sometimes  applied; 
but  by  right  in  these  days  the  name  belongs 
rather  to  Budapest,  for  Genoa's  palaces  are 
dingy  and  gloomy,  Venice's  are  moth-eaten 
and  rust-corrupted,  while  Budapest's  (and 
she  has  more  than  either  of  them)  are  fresh 
and  bright  and  unstained  by  time. 

I  like  these  three  cities,  too,  because  they 
have  few  visible  slums.  There  are  poor  peo- 
ple in  them,  of  course,  but  little  grinding, 
ragged,  filthy,  leprous  squalor,  such  as  is  found 
in  many  of  the  world's  great  capitals.  This 
is  the  more  remarkable  in  Budapest,  since  it 
ranks  as  one  of  the  world's  largest  cities,  with 
well  on  to  a  million  inhabitants,  and  in  all 
great  aggregations  of  men  we  expect  to  find 
hopeless,  wretched  poverty. 

"  Where  are  your  slums  ?  "  I  said  to  a  lead- 
ing citizen  of  Budapest.  "We  have  none," 
he  replied;  and  so  far  as  I  could  see  he  was 
right.  Everywhere  are  broad  streets,  lined 
with  substantial  and  often  elegant  buildings, 
248 


THE    BASTION    OF    BUDAPEST    ON    THE    BUDA    SIDE    OF 
THE    DANUBE 


THE    FRANCIS    JOSEPH    BRIDGE,    BUDAPEST 


Great  Cities  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 

to  which  the  word  "  palace,"  if  we  do  not  con- 
fine it  strictly  to  the  residence  of  royalty, 
might  apply.  The  curious  and  beautiful  Hun- 
garian architecture,  which  makes  much  of 
brilliant  tiling  and  terra-cotta  effects,  adds 
much  to  the  charm  of  the  city,  which  is  con- 
stantly surprising  one  with  some  new  and 
unexpected  architectural  delight. 

In  the  matter  of  up-to-date  comforts,  and 
especially  electric  appliances,  Budapest  leads 
all  European  cities.  It  is  sometimes  called 
"the  electric  city,"  and  deserves  the  name. 
It  is  brilliantly  lighted  by  electricity,  with 
telephones  at  every  corner;  and  the  electric 
cars  run  swiftly  through  the  clean,  well-paved 
streets,  and  so  frequent  are  the  cars  that  one 
does  not  have  to  "  hold  on  by  his  eyelids" 
to  keep  his  place;  while  the  well-ventilated, 
white-tiled  subway  that  underlies  the  great 
city  antedated  by  several  years  the  under- 
ground roads  of  which  Boston  and  New  York 
are  justly  so  proud. 

I  have  dwelt  upon  these  material  aspects 
of  Budapest  the  Beautiful  because  I  think 
the  city  and  the  country  of  which  it  is  the 
,249 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

capital  are  not  known  in  America  as  they 
should  be.  Several  Hungarians  complained 
to  me  of  this,  and  not  without  reason. 
"  Many  Americans,"  said  one  leading  states- 
man, "  think  Hungary  is  a  province,  and  not 
a  province  of  Austria  even,  but  of  Germany! 
This  is  too  much."  While  I  do  not  think  that 
educated  Americans  are  so  ignorant  of  Hun- 
gary, yet  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  few  of 
us  realize  what  a  great,  free,  independent, 
proud-spirited,  progressive  nation  is  holding 
one  of  the  outposts  of  high  civilization  in 
southeastern  Europe,  having  rescued  one  of 
the  fairest  countries  in  the  world  from  Mo- 
hammedanism and  consequent  barbarity. 

That  America  is  not  any  better  understood 
in  Hungary  than  Hungary  is  in  America  is 
shown  by  a  remarkable  pamphlet  recently 
published  by  the  secretary  to  the  Hungarian 
Board  of  Agriculture,  Hon.  Joseph  Nemeth, 
who  not  long  ago  made  extensive  travels  in 
America  in  connection  with  his  department 
of  state.  The  following  was  kindly  trans- 
lated for  me  by  Mr.  Nemeth  himself:  — 


250 


Great  Cities  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 

Having  associated  with  several  leaders  of  the 
American  commonwealth,  having  further  come  into 
direct  contact  with  several  phases  of  social  life,  I 
found  that  those  plutocratic  and  commercial  vices, 
from  a  consideration  of  which  our  opinion  of  Amer- 
ica is  formed,  are  only  bubbles  upon  the  surface  of  a 
mighty  river,  and  those  signs  of  political  and  admin- 
istrative corruption  which  present  such  an  invidious 
picture  of  American  public  life  are  only  the  thin 
mud  strata  that  lie  at  the  bottom.  Between  them 
rolls  the  mighty  tide  of  the  great  river,  ever  in- 
creasing in  volume,  holding  within  its  bosom  those 
greater  potentialities  of  a  nation's  life.  To  demon- 
strate the  correctness  of  these  opinions  it  will  be  suf- 
ficient to  append  the  description  of  two  American 
social  institutions,  i.e.,  the  Christian  Endeavor  So- 
ciety and  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 

Then  for  several  pages  this  Hungarian 
statesman  gives  the  history,  growth,  and 
principles  of  the  Endeavor  movement.  It  is 
as  gratifying  as  it  is  rare  to  find  our  country 
judged  abroad  by  such  standards  and  such 
institutions.  Too  many  foreigners  and  foreign 
papers  say  and  print  all  the  mean  and  dis- 
creditable things  they  can  about  the  United 
States :  every  murder,  horrible  lynching,  cel- 
ebrated divorce  case,  and  awful  railway  ac- 
cident, for  the  sake  of  making  our  country 
251 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

an   awful  example  to  all  prospective   emi- 
grants. 

Next  to  Vienna,  Budapest  is  by  far  the 
largest  city  of  the  Dual  Empire,  with  a  pop- 
ulation of  nearly  a  million.  As  I  have  inti- 
mated, it  gives  one  the  impression  of  being 
perhaps  the  most  up-to-date  city  in  Europe. 
The  mighty  Danube,  spanned  by  its  magni- 
ficent bridges,  and  the  great  public  buildings, 
especially  the  Houses  of  Parliament  and  the 
Imperial  Palace,  are  the  striking  features  of 
the  capital  of  Hungary.  It  is  the  most  mod- 
ern in  its  appearance  of  any  of  the  great  cities 
of  Europe,  and  though  it  was  a  Roman  col- 
ony two  thousand  years  ago,  it  is  as  new  in 
many  of  its  sections  as  Omaha  or  Chicago. 
Indeed,  it  was  only  in  1872  that  the  towns  of 
Pesth  and  Buda  were  united  in  the  one  great 
city.  Buda,  on  the  right  of  the  surging  Dan- 
ube, is  the  city  of  the  royal  palace  and  of 
many  beautiful  private  buildings;  Pesth,  on 
the  left  of  the  river,  contains  the  Parliament 
buildings,  the  Academy,  the  National  Mu- 
seum, and  the  chief  business  streets  of  the 
city.  These  streets  are  lined  on  either  side 
252 


Great  Cities  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 

by  some  of  the  finest  commercial  houses  to 
be  found  in  any  part  of  the  world,  and  here 
can  be  obtained  everything  to  eat,  drink,  or 
wear  that  the  remotest  nations  can  furnish. 

In  the  midst  of  the  Danube,  between  the 
two  parts  of  the  united  city,  is  a  lovely  island, 
Margareten-Insel  by  name,  a  beautiful  pleas- 
ure-ground for  the  people  of  all  classes  and 
conditions.  The  six  bridges  that  cross  the 
Danube  give  a  distinction  to  the  city,  and 
are  never  forgotten  by  the  traveler  who  has 
once  seen  them.  The  Suspension  Bridge,  per- 
haps, is  the  most  striking  of  all,  being  over 
twelve  hundred  feet  in  length  and  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  feet  broad,  while  at  each 
end  are  two  magnificent  colossal  lions  in  en- 
during granite. 

To  every  Hungarian  the  regalia  in  the  royal 
palace  are  of  especial  interest,  for  here  is  the 
crown  of  St.  Stephen,  a  relic  of  majesty  more 
revered  than  any  other  crown  in  the  world. 
It  is  guarded  day  and  night  by  soldiers,  is 
never  shown  to  visitors,  but  once  a  year,  on 
St.  Stephen's  Day,  the  crown  is  carried  in 
solemn  procession  through  the  streets. ' 
253 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

Since  the  present  city  of  Budapest  is  com- 
paratively modern,  one  does  not  expect  to 
find  so  many  objects  of  historic  interest  as  in 
other  cities,  but  these  are  by  no  means  alto- 
gether wanting.  The  Matthias-Kirche,  which 
dates  back  to  the  thirteenth  century,  reminds 
us  of  the  bitter  days  of  the  fightings  with  the 
Turks,  for  it  was  turned  into  a  mosque  dur- 
ing the  Turkish  domination,  and  when  they 
were  driven  out  it  was  restored  to  its  ancient 
use  as  a  Christian  church.  Here  King  Fran- 
cis Joseph  and  Queen  Elizabeth  were  crowned 
in  1867,  when  the  right  of  Hungary  to  be 
a  separate  kingdom  was  at  last  conceded 
by  her  neighbor  Austria.  There  are  other 
churches  and  buildings  that  date  back  to  the 
pre-Turkish  times,  but  the  chief  character- 
istics of  Budapest  are  of  modern  interest,  the 
life  that  pulsates  through  its  streets,  the  com- 
merce that  plies  up  and  down  its  magnificent 
river  and  beneath  its  splendid  bridges,  the 
schools,  and  the  great  university.  These  are 
all  of  modern  date,  but  they  tell  us  of  the 
virility,  the  prowess,  and  the  greater  future 
glories  of  the  Hungarian  nation. 
254 


Great  Cities  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 

One  other  city  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 
should  be  mentioned,  because  it  is  the  city 
from  which  the  great  majority  of  the  emi- 
grants who  are  seeking  new  homes  in  America 
leave  their  old  home  in  Europe.  Have  you 
ever  read  Howells's  delightful  story,  "The 
Lady  of  the  Aroostook"?  If  you  have,  you 
remember  that  this  charming  lady  sailed  on 
the  ship  Aroostook  from  Boston  for  Trieste, 
or  "  Try-East,"  as  the  captain  pronounced  it. 
The  political,  civil,  and  domestic  life  of  the 
United  States  will  be  affected  not  a  little  by 
the  men,  women,  and  children  who  start  from 
the  wharves  of  Trieste  for  the  New  World 
across  the  great  ocean.  Trieste  may  well  be 
compared  to  Liverpool,  Hamburg,  Bremen, 
Antwerp,  and  Naples  as  a  recruiting-station 
for  the  new  American.  It  is  worth  while, 
then,  to  know  something  about  this  city  at 
the  other  end  of  the  eighteen  days'  steam- 
ferry  that  plies  between  the  United  States 
and  Austria. 

Trieste  is  at  the  very  top  of  the  Adriatic 
Sei,  nearly  opposite  to  Venice,  on  the  Aus- 
trian coast,  and  is  Austria's  only  great  sea- 
255 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

port.  It  is  charmingly  situated,  too,  the  rugged 
granite  hills  encompassing  it  around  on  every 
side  but  one,  while  the  usually  peaceful 
waters  of  the  Adriatic  lave  its  shores  on  the 
only  side  that  the  hills  do  not  guard.  I  say 
"  usually  peaceful,"  for  the  Adriatic  can  be 
as  turbulent  as  any  stretch  of  ocean  blue; 
and  when  the  Bora  sweeps  down  over  the 
granite  hills  to  the  north,  let  the  mariner  and 
the  landsman  alike  beware;  for  it  can  blow 
a  ship  from  its  moorings,  or  overturn  a  loaded 
car  on  the  railroad  track. 

As  we  wind  down  the  steep  descent  from 
the  plains  of  Istria  and  Carniola,  we  see  fields 
so  stony  and  barren  as  to  make  the  rockiest 
New  Hampshire  hillside  farm  look  like  a 
fertile  oasis.  Little  patches  of  soil  that  could 
be  covered  by  a  good-sized  sheet  are  encir- 
cled by  a  high  stone  wall,  and  the  railway 
in  the  most  exposed  places  is  defended  by 
great  masses  of  masonry  from  the  dreaded 
Bora  and  the  rocks  and  soil  that  he  sends 
flying  in  every  direction.  One  can  get  from 
this  some  idea  of  what  "  Boreas,"  who  fig- 
ures so  largely  in  the  classics,  must  have 
256 


Great  Cities  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 

meant  to  the  ancients  who  lived  on  this  coast. 
But  Boreas  does  not  often  blow;  and  while 
we  were  in  Trieste,  though  it  was  early  De- 
cember, the  weather  was  mild  and  gentle. 

The  present  city  of  Trieste  would  be  pro- 
nounced by  the  archaeologist  as  "distressingly 
modern";  yet  there  has  been  a  town  here 
since  early  Roman  times;  and  all  the  stern 
Dalmatian  coast,  clear  down  to  the  edge  of 
Montenegro,  is  full  of  attractions,  either  for 
the  lover  of  the  past,  who  would  find  plenty 
of  most  interesting  ruins,  or  for  the  lover  of 
the  present,  who  would  find  plenty  of  inter- 
esting men  and  women  and  boys  and  girls. 

One  singular  thing  about  the  city  is  that 
it  is  virtually  an  Italian  city  on  Austrian  soil. 
It  is  hard  to  realize  when  in  Trieste  that  one 
is  not  actually  in  Italy,  whose  boundary,  to  be 
sure,  is  but  a  few  miles  distant.  Italian  signs 
greet  one  over  the  shop-doors.  Italian  wait- 
ers serve  Italian  food  at  the  restaurants. 
Italian  newsboys  in  shrill  tones  cry  Italian 
newspapers  on  the  streets.  The  women  dress 
in  the  gay  colors  of  their  sisters  across  the 
border,  and  the  whole  city  has  the  life  and 
257 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

gayety  of  a  town  of  the  long  peninsula.  You 
can  realize  that  you  are  in  Austria  only  when 
you  see  in  the  post-office  and  other  public 
buildings  jthe  benign  face  of  the  aged  em- 
peror, Francis  Joseph,  looking  down  at  you, 
or  looking  up  at  you,  perhaps,  from  the  post- 
age-stamp you  have  just  stuck  on  the  right- 
hand  upper  corner  of  the  home  letter. 

But  we  are  more  interested  in  the  people 
who  are  just  leaving  Trieste  on  one  of  the 
weekly  steamers  for  America,  for  they  are 
to  be  our  brothers  and  sisters  in  a  peculiar 
and  special  sense.  They  have  been  collected 
from  all  parts  of  the  Austrian  Empire  and 
from  the  Balkan  States  by  the  industrious 
steamship  agents ;  and  here  they  are  in  Trieste, 
all  ready  to  try  their  fortunes  in  the  new  land, 
which  they  have  been  assured  flows  with 
milk  and  honey  for  all  comers.  What  a  mot- 
ley crowd  they  are,  as  they  wait  patiently  on 
the  dock  for  permission  to  go  aboard  the 
steamer!  They  are  mostly  in  their  poor  best, 
and  their  best  is  poor  enough.  There  is  a 
mother  with  almost  as  many  in  her  train  as 
John  Rogers  is  credited  with  when  he  went 

258 


GRAND    CANAL,    TRIESTE 


Great  Cities  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 

to  the  stake — "nine  small  children  and  one 
at  the  breast."  There  is  a  buxom  belle  from 
Herzegovina,  who  is  already  beginning  to 
cast  sheep's-eyes  at  a  swain  from  Croatia  who 
will  be  her  fellow  passenger  on  the  long  voy- 
age to  America.  How  many  matches  must 
be  made  in  the  steerage  during  these  voyages ! 
Let  us  hope  that  they  will  be  made  in  heaven 
as  well  as  in  the  steerage,  that  they  will  be 
all  love-matches,  and  that  the  fellow  voyagers 
will  "live  happily  ever  after."  For  my  part 
I  think  they  are  quite  as  likely  to  do  so  as  if  the 
match  were  made  in  a  fashionable  ballroom. 
Over  yonder  on  the  wharf  is  a  group  of 
sturdy  young  men,  brawny  and  beefy;  not 
over-intellectual,  to  be  sure;  but  they  will 
help  build  many  a  railway  and  turn  many  a 
sod  on  the  virgin  fields  of  our  Western  prai- 
ries. Here  and  there  we  see  an  old  man  or 
woman  going  out  with  the  young  folks,  but 
there  are  very  few  older  than  forty  in  the 
throng.  And  what  baggage  they  have  to  start 
life  with  in  the  New  World !  Scarcely  one 
trunk  among  them  all.  They  can  carry  their 
worldly  possessions  on  their  backs,  and  toil- 
259 


Old  Homes  of  New  Americans 

somely  they  lug  them  up  the  steep  gangway 
to  the  ship's  deck.  Here  is  a  man  with  one 
of  Mr.  Rockefeller's  big,  square,  tin  oil-cans, 
the  most  useful  of  all  receptacles  in  the  East- 
ern world,  and  in  it  are  his  Lares  and  Pena- 
tes. There  is  another  with  what  looks  like 
a  bale  of  rags;  but,  if  we  could  get  at  the 
heart  of  it,  we  should  doubtless  find  under 
the  rags  a  tin  plate  and  cup  and  knife  and 
spoon,  and  a  few,  a  very  few,  articles  of 
clothing.  Another  man  cherishes  a  big  milk- 
can  as  one  of  his  treasures,  while  the  dude 
of  the  party  carries  a  genuine  though  second- 
hand American  suit-case. 

We  traveled  with  these  future  fellow  citi- 
zens for  about  two  days  from  Trieste  to 
Patras,  and,  on  the  whole,  I  was  glad  to  see 
them  face  toward  America.  For  the  most 
part  they  were  sober,  hardy,  patient  sons  of 
the  soil.  We  need  them,  and  they  need 
America.  I  would  not  keep  them  out  if  I 
could. 

What  futures  await  them  ?  Who  can  tell  ? 
What  disillusionments  when  they  find  that 
in  America,  too,  they  must  work,  and  work 
260 


Great  Cities  of  the  Dual  Monarchy 

hard,  for  all  they  get!  What  hard  treatment 
in  some  cases  from  hard  masters!  But  some 
will  come  to  the  top,  where  there  is  always 
room  for  the  emigrant,  from  whatever  land 
he  hails.  Some  of  them  or  their  children  will 
be  our  future  lawyers  and  doctors  and  min- 
isters and  merchants  and  millionaires.  Some 
of  them  or  their  children  will  find  their  way 
to  the  governor's  chair,  or  perhaps  will  don 
the  Senator's  toga.  Who  can  tell  ? 

One  thing  is  certain;  they  represent  not 
so  much  America's  peril  as  America's  op- 
portunity. Not  education  alone  will  save 
them  and  save  America,  as  some  think.  Their 
children  are  sure  to  get  an  education  of  some 
sort.  But  education  and  Christianity  together, 
the  school  and  the  church,  will  make  this 
conglomerate  mass  from  a  dozen  nations 
worthy  citizens  of  the  land  of  Washington 
and  Lincoln.  God  grant  that  our  churches 
and  our  schools  may  not  fail  in  their  part  of 
this  great  task! 

THE    END 


INDEX 


Adriatic,  113,  114,  117,  124, 
129,  142,  197,  255,  256. 

Agram,  124, 125, 189,204. 

Albania,  113. 

Alf6ld,  129,  160,  174. 

"Aliens  or  Americans?"  17. 

America,  xi,xii,xiii,  xiv,  xvii, 
xviii,xix,xx,xxi,8,9,  11,13, 
14,  16-18,46,47,51,56-58, 
62,63,65,77,80,81,86,87, 
94-98,  100,  103,  104,  1 06- 

109,  121,  124,  125,  137,  170, 

171,  173,  174, 180,  187,  194, 

198,  199,  2OI,  2O3,  204,  2O6, 
2O9,  212, 217, 219,  220,  224, 
229,232,250,259-261. 

Anjous,  143,  144. 

Apostles'  Clock,  243. 

Apponyi,  187. 

Arany,  Jean,  183. 

Arpad,  132.        * 

Austria,  xvii,  1-7,  10-12,  39, 
44,45,60-62,76,77,79,80, 
100,  103, 104,  106,  107,  113, 
116,  117, 122-124,  147, 153, 
161-164,  167-169,  186,  197, 

206,  221, 222, 254, 255, 258. 

Austria-Hungary,  xi,  xvi,  xvii, 
xviii,  xix,  xxi,  1-4,  9,  10, 
12,  52,  57,  ii7»  121,  126, 


170,  171,  198,231,  235. 


Balch,  Prof.  Emily  G.,  54,  96, 
104,  107,  199,  215. 

Bathori,  Stephen,  68. 

Bela  II  and  IV,  139,  141-143. 

Belgrade, 69,  70, 149, 150,  161. 

Black  Prince,  21. 

Bogomiles,  122. 

Bohemia,  xi,  xvi,  xviii,  xx,  2, 5, 
10,  n,  13-24,  26,  30-32,  35, 
37-52,  57,  62,  65,  101,  145, 
210, 227, 239, 240, 242. 

Bohemian  nobles,  41,  42,  240. 

Bora,  209,  256. 

Bosnians,  xviii,  122,  197. 

Bosnia- Herzegovina,  121,  123, 

145,  197- 
Brasso,  229,  233. 
Budapest,  xii,  8,  9,  157,  ig8, 

167,  182,  183, 230, 235, 239, 

247-249,  252,  254. 
Bukowina,   The,  2,  62,  221, 

225. 
Bureau  of    Immigration,  xv, 

xvii,  xviii,  xix,  xx. 


Canada,  101,  103,  in. 
Carinthia,  2,  206,  208. 
Carniola,  2,  206,  208,  256. 
Casimir,  King,  20. 
Cattaro,  114,  118,  119. 


Census  Report,  xvii,  14, 194. 

263 


Index 


Cetinje,  119. 

Charles  IX,  King,  66,  67. 
Christian  Endeavor,  251. 
Colquhoun,  Mr.  A.  R.,  123, 

228. 

Comenius,  14. 
Commissioner  of  Immigration, 

xv,  xvii,  xviii,  xix,  xx. 
Council  of  Constance,  23,  28, 

29,  144,  241. 
Cracow,  xii,  20,  62,  67,  69, 

233- 

Crecy,  20,  22,  58. 
Croatian,  xvii,  xviii,  xix,  5, 

124,  171,  180,  184,  186,  189, 

191-196,  199,  203,205,  210. 
Czechs,  14,  17-19,  43-46,  58, 

145. 
Czernowitz,  xii,  222, 224. 

Dal matia, xviii,  2,  57, 113-116, 
118,  121,  173,  197,  198,  210. 
Debreczen,  187,  233. 
Domazlice,  38,  58. 
Don-Magyars,  130. 

Ellis  Island,  xx,  64,  205,  220. 
England,  xx,  20,  24. 
Eotvos,  183. 

Ferdinand,  King,  41,  44,  227. 
France,  20,  21,66,67,76,116, 

156,  163,  210. 
Francis  Joseph  I,  2,  45,  169, 

239,  246,  254. 
Frederick,  King,  40,  41. 
Full-peasant,  52,  54,  55. 


Gabor,  Bethlen,  227. 
Galicia,  2,  57,  61-63,  80,  93, 
97,  100,  102,  104-110,  129, 

233. 
Germany,  xvi,  xviii,  4,  9-13, 

21,24,34,37,132,133,145, 

180,  184,  186. 

Golden  Age  of  Bohemia,  38. 
Golden  Age  of  Hungary,  146. 
Golden  Bull,  The,  141. 
Gowda,  Michael,  in. 
Greeks,  xx. 
Grose,  Dr.  Howard  B.,  17. 

Half-peasant,  55. 

Hapsburg  Dynasty,   1-6,    10, 

n,  39,  41,   161,   162,   186, 

192,  236. 

Hatted  King,  The,  164. 
Hauteville,  88. 
Henry  de  Valois,  66,  91. 
Herzegovinians,  xviii,  113,121, 

197. 

Holubar,  151-153. 
Hungary,  xiii,  xvii,  xviii,  2-5, 

11,  12,28,34,37,52,57,62, 

69,  100,  113,  127-188,  191, 

192,  194,  203-207,  213,  220, 
221, 226-229,  233,  250,  252, 
254- 

Hunyadi,  John,  146-150. 
Huss,  John,    19,    22-31,    144, 
241. 

Immigration,  Commissioner  of , 

xv,  xvii,  xviii,  xix,  xx. 
Innsbruck,  233,  234. 


264 


Index 


Irish,  xx. 
Istra,  2,  113,  256. 
Italy,  xvii,  xx,   10,   102,  113, 
116,186, 198,257. 

Jerome  of  Prague,  27,  31. 

Jesuits,  6,  39. 

Jews,  xvi,  7,  8,  12,  61,  63,  88, 

92,  93,  98,   no,  172,  181, 

218,223,243. 
John,  King,  19-22. 
Jokai,-i83. 
Joseph  II,  King,  164,  166. 

Kemeny,  183. 
Kolno,  John  of,  95. 
Kosciuszko,  Thaddeus,  77, 78, 

96. 
Kossuth,    52,    132,    166-168, 

187,  192,  233. 
Kraszewski,  86. 
Kronstadt,  229,  233. 

Laibach,  208. 
Ledger,  Louis,  211. 
Lehel,  133. 
Lelewel,  84. 

Lemberg,  62,  no,  III,  233. 
Luther,  19,  28,  39. 
Liitzow,  Count,  21. 
Lwow,  xii. 

Magnates,  175,  178. 

Magyars,  xi,  xvi,  xviii,  xix, 
xxi,  4,  5,  9,  116,  130,  131, 
170-177,  180,  182,  184-186, 
220,  228,  229. 


Malczewski  Anton,  82. 
Matthias,  146,  151-157,  176. 
Mazeppa,  101. 
Mclntyre,  Bishop,  xxvi. 
Mexicans,  xx. 
Mickiewicz,  82. 
Mohacs,  158, 161. 
Moldavia,  145. 
Montenegro,    113,   114,   118- 

121,  198. 
Moravia,  xvi,  xviii,  xx,  2,  10, 

14, 15, 19, 43,  49,  55-57, 62. 
Moravian  Brethren,  15, 16. 
Morfill,  Prof.  William  R.,  71, 

74- 

Nemeth,  Hon.  Joseph,  250. 
Niemcewicz,  60, 96. 

Petofi,  182. 

Pilsen,  17,  47. 

Pola,  117. 

Poland,  xi,  xvii,  xviii,  xix,  5,7, 
II,  20,  34,  59-99,  101,  104, 
106,  no,  in,  149,  159,  223. 

Prague,  5,  17,  23,  26,  28,  31, 
32,41-47, 235,239-243, 246. 

Prikazy,  55,  56. 

Prokop  the  Great,  19,  37. 

Prussia,  1 1 , 60-63,  76,  79. 

Pulaski,  96. 

Quarter- peasant,  53. 
"Quo  Vadis,"  64. 


Ragusa,  118,  173. 

Raven  Knight,  The,  148,  150, 


265 


Index 


Roumanian,    184,    186,    223, 

225,  229. 
Russia,  5,  n,  60-63,  76,  77, 

79,  100-103,  167. 
Ruthenians,  xvii,  xviii,  xx,  5, 

61,  63,  loo-no,  171,  223. 

Sarajevo,  123. 

Schauffler,     Robert     Haven, 

xxii. 

"Scum  o' the  Earth,"  xxii. 
Semendria,  147. 
Serbs,  xvii. 
Servia,  69,  145,  150,  171,  184, 

1 86. 
Seven     Dukes    of    Hungary, 

The,  131. 

Sienkiewicz,  64,  81,  86. 
Sigismund,  King,  28,  29,  144, 

145.  241. 

Silesia,  2,  62. 

Slavonians,  xix,  5,  180. 

Slavs,  xi,  xvi,  xxi,  4,  5,  8,  9, 
12,  50,  51,  79,  100,  116,  124, 
171,  175,  176,  198,204,213, 

220. 

Slovaks,  xvii,  xviii,  xix,  xx, 
171,  184,  206,  209, 212-214, 
217-220. 

Slovenians,  xvii,  xviii,  171, 1 86, 
206-213. 

Sobieski,  68-74,  J59- 

Sodowsky,  Jacob,  96. 

South,  Dr.,  73. 

Spalato,  1 1 8. 

Stanislaus,  King,  75. 


Stephen,  St.  (King),  135-139, 

163,  164,  253. 
Styria,  2,  206. 
Szechenyi,  Stephen,  166. 

Thirty  Years'  War,  43. 
Thomson,  E.  W.,  in. 
Transylvania,   68,    146,    162, 

194,  221,  225-230,  233. 
Trieste,  47,  114, 124,  198,  209, 

235>  255,  257. 
Turks,  68-70,  113,  116,  118, 

120,    122,    128,    130,    145, 

147-150,  154,  158-162,  177, 

194,222,226,236. 
Tyrol,  2. 

United  States,  xvii,  xix,  14, 1 6, 
18,  47,  59,  77,  98,  101,  103, 
122,  168,  173,  184,  193,  206, 
212,213,229,255. 

Vambery,  Prof.  A.,  137,  141. 
Vargha,  Julius  de,  185,  186. 
Vienna,   7-11,   69,    147,    153, 

158,  159  235-239. 
Vorosmarty,  183. 

Warsaw,  77,  79. 
White  Mountain,  23,  40,  41, 
43,  227. 

Zabrieskie,  95. 
Zagreb,  189,  190,  193. 
Zinzendorf,  Count,  14,  15. 
Ziska,  John,  19,  32-36. 


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